Some investors rely on dividends for growing their wealth, and if you're one of those dividend sleuths, you might be intrigued to know that FB Financial Corporation (NYSE:FBK) is about to go ex-dividend in just 3 days. The ex-dividend date occurs one day before the record date, which is the day on which shareholders need to be on the company's books in order to receive a dividend. It is important to be aware of the ex-dividend date because any trade on the stock needs to have been settled on or before the record date. Accordingly, FB Financial investors that purchase the stock on or after the 11th of August will not receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 25th of August.

The company's next dividend payment will be US$0.21 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of US$0.84 per share. Based on the last year's worth of payments, FB Financial stock has a trailing yield of around 1.4% on the current share price of US$60.82. Dividends are a major contributor to investment returns for long term holders, but only if the dividend continues to be paid. We need to see whether the dividend is covered by earnings and if it's growing.

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. FB Financial is paying out just 21% of its profit after tax, which is comfortably low and leaves plenty of breathing room in the case of adverse events.

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 the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.

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. For this reason, we're glad to see FB Financial's earnings per share have risen 18% 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 past eight years, FB Financial has increased its dividend at approximately 17% a year on average. Both per-share earnings and dividends have both been growing rapidly in recent times, which is great to see.

Final Takeaway

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

On that note, you'll want to research what risks FB Financial is facing.

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.