First Commonwealth Financial Corporation (NYSE:FCF) stock is about to trade ex-dividend in 4 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. Thus, you can purchase First Commonwealth Financial's shares before the 8th of February in order to receive the dividend, which the company will pay on the 23rd of February.

The company's next dividend payment will be US$0.125 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of US$0.50 to shareholders. Last year's total dividend payments show that First Commonwealth Financial has a trailing yield of 3.7% on the current share price of US$13.54. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether First Commonwealth Financial's dividend is reliable and sustainable. We need to see whether the dividend is covered by earnings and if it's growing.

See our latest analysis for First Commonwealth Financial

Dividends are typically paid out of company income, so if a company pays out more than it earned, its dividend is usually at a higher risk of being cut. First Commonwealth Financial paid out a comfortable 32% of its profit last year.

Generally speaking, the lower a company's payout ratios, the more resilient its dividend usually is.

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. If earnings decline and the company is forced to cut its dividend, investors could watch the value of their investment go up in smoke. This is why it's a relief to see First Commonwealth Financial earnings per share are up 7.3% 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. First Commonwealth Financial has delivered 7.6% dividend growth per year on average over the past 10 years. We're glad to see dividends rising alongside earnings over a number of years, which may be a sign the company intends to share the growth with shareholders.

The Bottom Line

Is First Commonwealth Financial an attractive dividend stock, or better left on the shelf? It has been growing its earnings per share somewhat in recent years, although it reinvests more than half its earnings in the business, which could suggest there are some growth projects that have not yet reached fruition. Overall, First Commonwealth Financial looks like a promising dividend stock in this analysis, and we think it would be worth investigating further.