Kohl’s board didn’t waste any time last week—bam, gone was CEO Ashley Buchanan after folks found out he was throwing big money deals toward his significant other. Awkward, right? Anyway, while Buchanan’s love life took a hit, shareholders are probably still eyeing their solid dividends like hawks. But can the temporary big boss, Michael Bender, keep giving out that sweet 7.6% yield?
Now, listen, the stock’s been on a downward spiral since like, 2018. Honestly, it’s kinda why the yield is whopping. It’s like watching a Knicks game—one moment you’re on cloud nine, the next you’re biting nails. In 2024 (which is sort of recent if you think about it), their free cash flow, which is how much cash a company has once it’s covering its expenses, totally crashed from $591 million to $182 million. In 2022, it even dipped into the negative zone! Experts say it’s gonna bounce back to $393 million this year. Hope they’re right.
Now, about paying out, in 2024, they gave $222 million in dividends. Imagine this—you’re giving out $1.22 for just every buck of cash flow you got. It’s like, how do you even sustain that? Good news, supposedly, is that this year that payout ratio is heading down to 61% as the dividends tick up to $238 million. Better, right?
Kohl’s dividend history? Eh, kind of dodgy, honestly. Cuts here, slashes there. At one point during the pandemic, they just axed it for a while. I mean, when they brought it back, you could basically see the strings—they dropped the dividend down to less than half of what it used to be. Talk about a cutback.
In a nutshell, with things like dodging tariffs, having a new CEO stepping in after drama town, and all these financial shenanigans, it’s hard to trust those dividends to be safe. The Safety Rating? Well, let’s just say you wouldn’t want to bank on it.
So, if there’s another company’s dividends you’re curious about, drop the ticker below. You can also hang out on the Wealthy Retirement site, hit up the “Search,” and see if we’ve covered your stock crush. Remember though, we’re all about those individual stocks, not any of those fancy funds.
