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Are You Looking for a High-Growth Dividend Stock? MGE (MGEE) Could Be a Great Choice

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Getting big returns from financial portfolios, whether through stocks, bonds, ETFs, other securities, or a combination of all, is an investor's dream. 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.

MGE in Focus

MGE (MGEE - Free Report) is headquartered in Madison, and is in the Utilities sector. The stock has seen a price change of -6.66% since the start of the year. The public utility holding company is paying out a dividend of $0.39 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 2.02% compared to the Utility - Electric Power industry's yield of 3.12% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.51%.

Taking a look at the company's dividend growth, its current annualized dividend of $1.55 is up 2.3% from last year. Over the last 5 years, MGE has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 4.74%. 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. Right now, MGE's payout ratio is 53%, which means it paid out 53% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Earnings growth looks solid for MGEE for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2022 is $3.13 per share, with earnings expected to increase 7.19% from the year ago period.

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 MGEE 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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