The board of Southside Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:SBSI) has announced that it will pay a dividend of $0.36 per share on the 6th of March. The dividend yield will be 4.5% based on this payment which is still above the industry average.

Check out our latest analysis for Southside Bancshares

Southside Bancshares' Dividend Forecasted To Be Well Covered By Earnings

A big dividend yield for a few years doesn't mean much if it can't be sustained.

Having distributed dividends for at least 10 years, Southside Bancshares has a long history of paying out a part of its earnings to shareholders. Based on Southside Bancshares' last earnings report, the payout ratio is at a decent 49%, meaning that the company is able to pay out its dividend with a bit of room to spare.

Over the next 3 years, EPS is forecast to expand by 2.4%. Analysts estimate the future payout ratio will be 53% over the same time period, which is in the range that makes us comfortable with the sustainability of the dividend.

Southside Bancshares Has A Solid Track Record

Even over a long history of paying dividends, the company's distributions have been remarkably stable. The annual payment during the last 10 years was $0.792 in 2015, and the most recent fiscal year payment was $1.44. This works out to be a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 6.2% a year over that time. The dividend has been growing very nicely for a number of years, and has given its shareholders some nice income in their portfolios.

Southside Bancshares Could Grow Its Dividend

Some investors will be chomping at the bit to buy some of the company's stock based on its dividend history. We are encouraged to see that Southside Bancshares has grown earnings per share at 5.7% per year over the past five years. Shareholders are getting plenty of the earnings returned to them, which combined with strong growth makes this quite appealing.

We Really Like Southside Bancshares' Dividend

In summary, it is good to see that the dividend is staying consistent, and we don't think there is any reason to suspect this might change over the medium term. The company is easily earning enough to cover its dividend payments and it is great to see that these earnings are being translated into cash flow. 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. Earnings growth generally bodes well for the future value of company dividend payments. See if the 4 Southside Bancshares analysts we track are forecasting continued growth with our free report on analyst estimates for the company. If you are a dividend investor, you might also want to look at our curated list of high yield dividend stocks.

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