The board of Globe Life Inc. (NYSE:GL) has announced that the dividend on 1st of May will be increased to $0.27, which will be 13% higher than last year's payment of $0.24 which covered the same period. Even though the dividend went up, the yield is still quite low at only 0.8%.

Check out our latest analysis for Globe Life

Globe Life's Payment Could Potentially Have Solid Earnings Coverage

It would be nice for the yield to be higher, but we should also check if higher levels of dividend payment would be sustainable. However, Globe Life's earnings easily cover the dividend. This means that most of what the business earns is being used to help it grow.

The next year is set to see EPS grow by 36.7%. If the dividend continues along recent trends, we estimate the payout ratio will be 6.0%, which is in the range that makes us comfortable with the sustainability of the dividend.

Globe Life Has A Solid Track Record

The company has an extended history of paying stable dividends. Since 2015, the dividend has gone from $0.507 total annually to $0.96. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 6.6% per annum over that time. The growth of the dividend has been pretty reliable, so we think this can offer investors some nice additional income in their portfolio.

The Dividend Looks Likely To Grow

Some investors will be chomping at the bit to buy some of the company's stock based on its dividend history. Globe Life has seen EPS rising for the last five years, at 13% per annum. Growth in EPS bodes well for the dividend, as does the low payout ratio that the company is currently reporting.

We Really Like Globe Life's Dividend

In summary, it is always positive to see the dividend being increased, and we are particularly pleased with its overall sustainability. Earnings are easily covering distributions, and the company is generating plenty of cash. Taking this all into consideration, this looks like it could be a good dividend opportunity.

Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. Still, investors need to consider a host of other factors, apart from dividend payments, when analysing a company. For example, we've picked out 2 warning signs for Globe Life that investors should know about before committing capital to this stock. If you are a dividend investor, you might also want to look at our curated list of high yield dividend stocks.

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