The board of Escalade, Incorporated (NASDAQ:ESCA) has announced that it will pay a dividend on the 13th of January, with investors receiving $0.15 per share. This makes the dividend yield 4.2%, which will augment investor returns quite nicely.

View our latest analysis for Escalade

Escalade's Payment Could Potentially Have Solid Earnings Coverage

If the payments aren't sustainable, a high yield for a few years won't matter that much. Based on the last payment, Escalade was quite comfortably earning enough to cover the dividend. This indicates that a lot of the earnings are being reinvested into the business, with the aim of fueling growth.

Looking forward, earnings per share could rise by 10.6% over the next year if the trend from the last few years continues. If the dividend continues along recent trends, we estimate the payout ratio will be 60%, which is in the range that makes us comfortable with the sustainability of the dividend.

Escalade Has A Solid Track Record

The company has an extended history of paying stable dividends. Since 2014, the dividend has gone from $0.36 total annually to $0.60. This implies that the company grew its distributions at a yearly rate of about 5.2% over that duration. Dividends have grown at a reasonable rate over this period, and without any major cuts in the payment over time, we think this is an attractive combination as it provides a nice boost to shareholder returns.

The Dividend Looks Likely To Grow

Some investors will be chomping at the bit to buy some of the company's stock based on its dividend history. Escalade has impressed us by growing EPS at 11% per year over the past five years. The company is paying a reasonable amount of earnings to shareholders, and is growing earnings at a decent rate so we think it could be a decent dividend stock.

Escalade Looks Like A Great Dividend Stock

Overall, we think that this is a great income investment, and we think that maintaining the dividend this year may have been a conservative choice. Earnings are easily covering distributions, and the company is generating plenty of cash. All of these factors considered, we think this has solid potential as a dividend stock.

Market movements attest to how highly valued a consistent dividend policy is compared to one which is more unpredictable. Meanwhile, despite the importance of dividend payments, they are not the only factors our readers should know when assessing a company. Case in point: We've spotted 2 warning signs for Escalade (of which 1 is a bit concerning!) you should know about. Is Escalade not quite the opportunity you were looking for? Why not check out our selection of top dividend stocks.

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