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Are You Looking for a High-Growth Dividend Stock? Peoples Bancorp (PEBO) Could Be a Great Choice

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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.

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 account for significant portions of long-term returns, with dividend contributions exceeding one-third of total returns in many cases.

Peoples Bancorp in Focus

Based in Marietta, Peoples Bancorp (PEBO - Free Report) is in the Finance sector, and so far this year, shares have seen a price change of 2.61%. The financial services and products company is paying out a dividend of $0.36 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 4.41% compared to the Banks - Midwest industry's yield of 2.47% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.48%.

Taking a look at the company's dividend growth, its current annualized dividend of $1.44 is up 0.7% from last year. In the past five-year period, Peoples Bancorp has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 13.45%. 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. Peoples Bancorp's current payout ratio is 46%. This means it paid out 46% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Looking at this fiscal year, PEBO expects solid earnings growth. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2022 is $3.13 per share, with earnings expected to increase 44.91% from the year ago period.

Bottom Line

From greatly improving stock investing profits and reducing overall portfolio risk to providing tax advantages, investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons. It's important to keep in mind that not all companies provide 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, PEBO is a compelling investment opportunity. Not only is it a strong dividend play, but the stock currently sits at a Zacks Rank of 3 (Hold).


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