Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it's exciting to see Citizens Community Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:CZWI) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 4 days. The ex-dividend date is one business day before a company's record date, which is the date on which the company determines which shareholders are entitled to receive a dividend. The ex-dividend date is an important date to be aware of as any purchase of the stock made on or after this date might mean a late settlement that doesn't show on the record date. In other words, investors can purchase Citizens Community Bancorp's shares before the 6th of February in order to be eligible for the dividend, which will be paid on the 20th of February.

The company's upcoming dividend is US$0.105 a share, following on from the last 12 months, when the company distributed a total of US$0.42 per share to shareholders. Calculating the last year's worth of payments shows that Citizens Community Bancorp has a trailing yield of 2.3% on the current share price of US$18.14. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether Citizens Community Bancorp's dividend is reliable and sustainable. So we need to investigate whether Citizens Community Bancorp can afford its dividend, and if the dividend could grow.

Dividends are typically paid from company earnings. If a company pays more in dividends than it earned in profit, then the dividend could be unsustainable. Citizens Community Bancorp paid out just 25% of its profit last year, which we think is conservatively low and leaves plenty of margin for unexpected circumstances.

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 how much of its profit Citizens Community Bancorp paid out over the last 12 months.

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Companies with consistently growing earnings per share generally make the best dividend stocks, as they usually find it easier to grow dividends per share. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. This is why it's a relief to see Citizens Community Bancorp earnings per share are up 5.6% per annum over the last five years.

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, Citizens Community Bancorp has lifted its dividend by approximately 18% a year on average. It's encouraging to see the company lifting dividends while earnings are growing, suggesting at least some corporate interest in rewarding shareholders.

To Sum It Up

Is Citizens Community Bancorp an attractive dividend stock, or better left on the shelf? Citizens Community Bancorp has seen its earnings per share grow slowly in recent years, and the company reinvests more than half of its profits in the business, which generally bodes well for its future prospects. Overall, Citizens Community Bancorp looks like a promising dividend stock in this analysis, and we think it would be worth investigating further.

Keen to explore more data on Citizens Community Bancorp's financial performance? Check out our visualisation of its historical revenue and earnings growth.

If you're in the market for strong dividend payers, we recommend checking our selection of top dividend stocks.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. 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.