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Texas Instruments (TXN) is a Top Dividend Stock Right Now: Should You Buy?

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Whether it's through stocks, bonds, ETFs, or other types of securities, all investors love seeing their portfolios score big returns. 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 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.

Texas Instruments in Focus

Headquartered in Dallas, Texas Instruments (TXN - Free Report) is a Computer and Technology stock that has seen a price change of 14.52% so far this year. The chipmaker is currently shelling out a dividend of $1.02 per share, with a dividend yield of 2.17%. This compares to the Semiconductor - General industry's yield of 0.47% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.36%.

Taking a look at the company's dividend growth, its current annualized dividend of $4.08 is up 9.7% from last year. Texas Instruments has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis over the last 5 years for an average annual increase of 21%. 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. Texas Instruments's current payout ratio is 57%. This means it paid out 57% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

TXN is expecting earnings to expand this fiscal year as well. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2021 is $7.86 per share, representing a year-over-year earnings growth rate of 31.66%.

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.

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. During periods of rising interest rates, income investors must be mindful that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle. With that in mind, TXN presents a compelling investment opportunity; it's not only an attractive dividend play, but the stock also boasts a strong Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).


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