Whether it's through stocks, bonds, ETFs, or other types of securities, all investors love seeing their portfolios score big returns. But for income investors, generating consistent cash flow from each of your liquid investments is your primary focus.
Cash flow can come from bond interest, interest from other types of investments, and of course, dividends. A dividend is the distribution of a company's earnings paid out to shareholders; it's often viewed by its dividend yield, a metric that measures a dividend as a percent of the current stock price. Many academic studies show that dividends make up large portions of long-term returns, and in many cases, dividend contributions surpass one-third of total returns.
Peoples Bancorp in Focus
Headquartered in Marietta, Peoples Bancorp (PEBO) is a Finance stock that has seen a price change of -1.24% so far this year. The financial services and products company is paying out a dividend of $0.4 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 4.8% compared to the Banks - Midwest industry's yield of 2.92% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.56%.
Taking a look at the company's dividend growth, its current annualized dividend of $1.60 is up 3.2% from last year. Peoples Bancorp has increased its dividend 4 times on a year-over-year basis over the last 5 years for an average annual increase of 3.84%. Any future dividend growth will depend on both earnings growth and the company's payout ratio; a payout ratio is the proportion of a firm's annual earnings per share that it pays out as a dividend. Peoples Bancorp's current payout ratio is 41%. This means it paid out 41% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.
Earnings growth looks solid for PEBO for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2024 is $3.46 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 0.58%.
Bottom Line
From greatly improving stock investing profits and reducing overall portfolio risk to providing tax advantages, investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons. However, not all companies offer a quarterly payout.
High-growth firms or tech start-ups, for example, rarely provide their shareholders a dividend, while larger, more established companies that have more secure profits are often seen as the best dividend options. During periods of rising interest rates, income investors must be mindful that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle. With that in mind, PEBO is a compelling investment opportunity. Not only is it a strong dividend play, but the stock currently sits at a Zacks Rank of 3 (Hold).
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
