Only 3 Days Left To Eversource Energy (ES)’s Ex-Dividend Date, Should Investors Buy?

Erna Eldridge
Updated

Shares of Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) will begin trading ex-dividend in 3 days. To qualify for the dividend check of $0.48 per share, investors must have owned the shares prior to 15 December 2017, which is the last day the company’s management will finalize their list of shareholders to which they will send dividend payments. What does this mean for current shareholders and potential investors? Below, I will explain how holding ES can impact your portfolio income stream, by analysing the stock’s most recent financial data and dividend attributes. View our latest analysis for Eversource Energy

5 checks you should do on a dividend stock

Whenever I am looking at a potential dividend stock investment, I always check these five metrics:

  • Does it pay an annual yield higher than 75% of dividend payers?

  • Has its dividend been stable over the past (i.e. no missed payments or significant payout cuts)?

  • Has the amount of dividend per share grown over the past?

  • Is it able to pay the current rate of dividends from its earnings?

  • Will it be able to continue to payout at the current rate in the future?

NYSE:ES Historical Dividend Yield Dec 11th 17
NYSE:ES Historical Dividend Yield Dec 11th 17

Does Eversource Energy pass our checks?

The current payout ratio for the stock is 60.43%, which means that the dividend is covered by earnings. In the near future, analysts are predicting a payout ratio of 60.62%, leading to a dividend yield of 3.11%. Moreover, EPS should increase to $3.28. If dividend is a key criteria in your investment consideration, then you need to make sure the dividend stock you’re eyeing out is reliable in its payments. In the case of ES it has increased its DPS from $0.8 to $1.9 in the past 10 years. It has also been paying out dividend consistently during this time, as you’d expect for a company increasing its dividend levels. These are all positive signs of a great, reliable dividend stock. Relative to peers, Eversource Energy produces a yield of 2.91%, which is on the low-side for electric utilities stocks.

What this means for you:

Are you a shareholder? With Eversource Energy producing strong dividend income for your portfolio over the past few years, you can take comfort in knowing that this stock will still continue to be a robust dividend generator moving forward. But, depending on your current portfolio, it may be beneficial exploring other dividend stocks to enhance your diversification, or even look at high-growth stocks to supplement your steady income stocks. I encourage you to continue your research by exploring my interactive free list of dividend rockstars as well as high-growth stocks to potentially add to your holdings.

Are you a potential investor? With these dividend metrics in mind, I definitely rank Eversource Energy as a strong income stock, and is worth further research for anyone who considers dividends an important part of their portfolio strategy. As with all investments, you should always research extensively before deciding whether or not a stock is an appropriate investment for you. I always recommend analysing the company’s fundamentals and underlying business before making an investment decision. Another aspect to consider for ES is how much it’s actually worth. Is ES still a bargain? Dig deeper in our latest free analysis to find out!


To help readers see pass the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price sensitive company announcements.

The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned.