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 Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust plc (LON:ORIT) is about to go ex-dividend in just three days. The ex-dividend date is usually set to be one business day before the record date which is the cut-off date on which you must be present on the company's books as a shareholder in order to receive the dividend. The ex-dividend date is important as the process of settlement involves two full business days. So if you miss that date, you would not show up on the company's books on the record date. Therefore, if you purchase Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust's shares on or after the 8th of February, you won't be eligible to receive the dividend, when it is paid on the 23rd of February.

The company's upcoming dividend is UK￡0.0145 a share, following on from the last 12 months, when the company distributed a total of UK￡0.058 per share to shareholders. Calculating the last year's worth of payments shows that Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust has a trailing yield of 7.0% on the current share price of UK￡0.83. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust's dividend is reliable and sustainable. So we need to check whether the dividend payments are covered, and if earnings are growing.

View our latest analysis for Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust

If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. An unusually high payout ratio of 281% of its profit suggests something is happening other than the usual distribution of profits to shareholders.

When a company pays out a dividend that is not well covered by profits, the dividend is generally seen as more vulnerable to being cut.

Click here to see how much of its profit Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust paid out over the last 12 months.

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

When earnings decline, dividend companies become much harder to analyse and own safely. If earnings fall far enough, the company could be forced to cut its dividend. That's why it's vaguely disappointing to see earnings per share declined -2.3% on last year.

We'd also point out that Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust issued a meaningful number of new shares in the past year. It's hard to grow dividends per share when a company keeps creating new shares.