All investors love getting big returns from their portfolio, whether it's through stocks, bonds, ETFs, or other types of securities. 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 tha t dividends make up large portions of long-term returns, and in many cases, dividend contributions surpass one-third of total returns.
M&T Bank in Focus
Headquartered in Buffalo, M&T Bank (MTB) is a Finance stock that has seen a price change of 14.03% so far this year. The bank holding company is paying out a dividend of $1 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 2.45% compared to the Banks - Major Regional industry's yield of 3.17% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.99%.
Taking a look at the company's dividend growth, its current annualized dividend of $4 is up 12.7% from last year. Over the last 5 years, M&T Bank has increased its dividend 2 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 5.55%. Future dividend growth will depend on earnings growth as well as payout ratio, which is the proportion of a company's annual earnings per share that it pays out as a dividend. Right now, M&T Bank's payout ratio is 32%, which means it paid out 32% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.
Earnings growth looks solid for MTB for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 is $14.14 per share, representing a year-over-year earnings growth rate of 9.95%.
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. It's important to keep in mind that not all companies provide 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 MTB is not only an attractive dividend play, but also represents a compelling investment opportunity with a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
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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.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
