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.
While cash flow can come from bond interest or interest from other types of investments, income investors hone in on dividends. A dividend is that coveted distribution of a company's earnings paid out to shareholders, and investors often view it by its dividend yield, a metric that measures the 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.
New Jersey Resources in Focus
Headquartered in Wall, New Jersey Resources (NJR) is a Utilities stock that has seen a price change of 10.16% so far this year. The energy services holding company is paying out a dividend of $0.39 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 2.85% compared to the Utility - Gas Distribution industry's yield of 3.03% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.72%.
Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $1.56 is up 5.5% from last year. In the past five-year period, New Jersey Resources has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 7.50%. 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. New Jersey Resources's current payout ratio is 53%, meaning it paid out 53% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.
NJR is expecting earnings to expand this fiscal year as well. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2023 is $2.63 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 5.20%.
Bottom Line
Investors like dividends for many reasons; they greatly improve stock investing profits, decrease overall portfolio risk, and carry tax advantages, among others. 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. Income investors have to be mindful 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 NJR is not only an attractive dividend play, but also represents a compelling investment opportunity with a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Zacks Names "Single Best Pick to Double"
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This company could rival or surpass other recent Zacks’ Stocks Set to Double like Boston Beer Company which shot up +143.0% in little more than 9 months and NVIDIA which boomed +175.9% in one year.
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