Why Tompkins Financial (TMP) is a Great Dividend Stock Right Now

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.

Cash flow can come from bond interest, interest from other types of investments, and of course, 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.

Tompkins Financial in Focus

Tompkins Financial (TMP) is headquartered in Ithaca, and is in the Finance sector. The stock has seen a price change of -8.18% since the start of the year. Currently paying a dividend of $0.57 per share, the company has a dividend yield of 2.97%. In comparison, the Banks - Northeast industry's yield is 2.37%, while the S&P 500's yield is 1.69%.

Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $2.28 is up 4.1% from last year. Tompkins Financial has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis over the last 5 years for an average annual increase of 4.53%. 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. Tompkins's current payout ratio is 38%, meaning it paid out 38% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Looking at this fiscal year, TMP expects solid earnings growth. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2022 is $6.09 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 0.66%.

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. However, not all companies offer 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 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 TMP is not only an attractive dividend play, but is also a compelling investment opportunity with a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong 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.