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Should Income Investors Look At FNCB Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FNCB) Before Its Ex-Dividend?

Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it's exciting to see FNCB Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FNCB) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next four days. Investors can purchase shares before the 31st of August in order to be eligible for this dividend, which will be paid on the 15th of September.

FNCB Bancorp's upcoming dividend is US$0.055 a share, following on from the last 12 months, when the company distributed a total of US$0.22 per share to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, FNCB Bancorp has a trailing yield of 3.5% on the current stock price of $6.215. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. We need to see whether the dividend is covered by earnings and if it's growing.

Check out our latest analysis for FNCB Bancorp

Dividends are usually paid out of company profits, so if a company pays out more than it earned then its dividend is usually at greater risk of being cut. Fortunately FNCB Bancorp's payout ratio is modest, at just 35% of profit.

Companies that pay out less in dividends than they earn in profits generally have more sustainable dividends. The lower the payout ratio, the more wiggle room the business has before it could be forced to cut the dividend.

Click here to see how much of its profit FNCB Bancorp paid out over the last 12 months.

historic-dividend
historic-dividend

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Businesses with shrinking earnings are tricky from a dividend perspective. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. With that in mind, we're discomforted by FNCB Bancorp's 6.1% per annum decline in earnings in the past five years. Such a sharp decline casts doubt on the future sustainability of the dividend.

Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. In the last 10 years, FNCB Bancorp has lifted its dividend by approximately 11% a year on average.

Final Takeaway

Is FNCB Bancorp an attractive dividend stock, or better left on the shelf? FNCB Bancorp's earnings per share are down over the past five years, although it has the cushion of a low payout ratio, which would suggest a cut to the dividend is relatively unlikely. In sum this is a middling combination, and we find it hard to get excited about the company from a dividend perspective.

However if you're still interested in FNCB Bancorp as a potential investment, you should definitely consider some of the risks involved with FNCB Bancorp. To that end, you should learn about the 2 warning signs we've spotted with FNCB Bancorp (including 1 which can't be ignored).

We wouldn't recommend just buying the first dividend stock you see, though. Here's a list of interesting 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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