This almost belongs in the Outstanding Financial Porn topic. Shame on Nutrien's Investor Relations team.ockham wrote: ↑21 Feb 2018 10:37 The new Nutrien (NTR) increases quarterly div by 27% to .40 USD.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-i ... slug=C2718
P.S. On reading the announcement more carefully, I see it's "a 27% increase from its legacy companies combined payout level". As the holder of shares in the legacy Agrium, I calculate the increase for former Agrium shareholders as being not quite 2%!!
The company's press release, Nutrien Declares Quarterly Dividend of US$0.40 per Share and Announces Intention to Commence Normal Course Issuer Bid | Nutrien
They carefully don't say the dividend itself is increasing 27%, only the legacy companies combined payout level, which they then define. But look at the definitionNutrien Ltd. (Nutrien) announced today that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly dividend of US$0.40 per common share payable on April 20, 2018 to shareholders of record on March 29, 2018. The dividend represents a 27 percent increase from its legacy companies combined payout level. Nutrien will target a stable and growing dividend that represents 40 to 60 percent of free cash flow after sustaining capital through the cycle.
Has anyone ever seen this type of definition? In my experience payout ratio is generally defined as some percentage of the previous year's earnings per share. Dividend Payout Ratio: How To Use & Calculate ItNutrien wrote:40 to 60 percent of free cash flow after sustaining capital through the cycle.
From Dividend.com,Dividend.com wrote:Payout Ratio Basics
The dividend payout ratio is used to examine if a company’s earnings can support the current dividend payment amount. The statistic is simple to compute, calculated by taking the dividend and dividing it by the company’s earnings per share.
Dividend Payout Ratio = Dividend per share (DPS) / Earnings per share (EPS)
- AGU: Dividend Date & History for Agrium, shows a payout ratio as 76.6% and
- POT: Dividend Date & History for Potash Corp shows a payout ratio of 63.5%.