Readers hoping to buy HomeStreet, Inc. (NASDAQ:HMST) for its dividend will need to make their move shortly, as the stock is about to trade ex-dividend. If you purchase the stock on or after the 5th of November, you won't be eligible to receive this dividend, when it is paid on the 23rd of November.

HomeStreet's next dividend payment will be US$0.15 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of US$0.60 to shareholders. Looking at the last 12 months of distributions, HomeStreet has a trailing yield of approximately 1.9% on its current stock price of $31.07. We love seeing companies pay a dividend, but it's also important to be sure that laying the golden eggs isn't going to kill our golden goose! So we need to investigate whether HomeStreet can afford its dividend, and if the dividend could grow.

See our latest analysis for HomeStreet

If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. HomeStreet has a low and conservative payout ratio of just 16% of its income after tax.

When a company paid out less in dividends than it earned in profit, this generally suggests its dividend is affordable. The lower the % of its profit that it pays out, the greater the margin of safety for the dividend if the business enters a downturn.

Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Businesses with strong growth prospects usually make the best dividend payers, because it's easier to grow dividends when earnings per share are improving. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. Fortunately for readers, HomeStreet's earnings per share have been growing at 13% a year for the past five years.

Given that HomeStreet has only been paying a dividend for a year, there's not much of a past history to draw insight from.

The Bottom Line

Has HomeStreet got what it takes to maintain its dividend payments? Typically, companies that are growing rapidly and paying out a low fraction of earnings are keeping the profits for reinvestment in the business. Perhaps even more importantly - this can sometimes signal management is focused on the long term future of the business. Overall, HomeStreet looks like a promising dividend stock in this analysis, and we think it would be worth investigating further.

In light of that, while HomeStreet has an appealing dividend, it's worth knowing the risks involved with this stock. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for HomeStreet (of which 1 makes us a bit uncomfortable!) you should know about.

If you're in the market for dividend stocks, we recommend checking our list of top dividend stocks with a greater than 2% yield and an upcoming dividend.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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