Atlantic Union (AUB) Could Be a Great Choice
All investors love getting big returns from their portfolio, whether it's through stocks, bonds, ETFs, or other types of securities. However, when you're an income investor, your primary focus is generating consistent cash flow from each of your liquid investments.
While cash flow can come from bond interest or interest from other types of investments, income investors hone in on 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 account for significant portions of long-term returns, with dividend contributions exceeding one-third of total returns in many cases.
Atlantic Union in Focus
Headquartered in Glen Allen, Atlantic Union (AUB) is a Finance stock that has seen a price change of -6.92% so far this year. Currently paying a dividend of $0.34 per share, the company has a dividend yield of 3.86%. In comparison, the Banks - Northeast industry's yield is 2.54%, while the S&P 500's yield is 1.56%.
Taking a look at the company's dividend growth, its current annualized dividend of $1.36 is up 4.6% from last year. In the past five-year period, Atlantic Union has increased its dividend 4 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 6.64%. Looking ahead, future dividend growth will be dependent on earnings growth and payout ratio, which is the proportion of a company's annual earnings per share that it pays out as a dividend. Right now, Atlantic Union's payout ratio is 49%, which means it paid out 49% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.
Looking at this fiscal year, AUB expects solid earnings growth. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 is $3.26 per share, representing a year-over-year earnings growth rate of 18.98%.
Bottom Line
Investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons, from tax advantages and decreasing overall portfolio risk to considerably improving stock investing profits. But, not every company offers a quarterly payout.
Big, established firms that have more secure profits are often seen as the best dividend options, but it's fairly uncommon to see high-growth businesses or tech start-ups offer their stockholders a dividend. Income investors must be conscious of the fact that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle during periods of rising interest rates. That said, they can take comfort from the fact that AUB is not only an attractive dividend play, but also represents a compelling investment opportunity with a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).
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Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation (AUB) : Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
