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Why Capital City Bank (CCBG) is a Great Dividend Stock Right Now

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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. 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 that dividends make up large portions of long-term returns, and in many cases, dividend contributions surpass one-third of total returns.

Capital City Bank in Focus

Based in Tallahassee, Capital City Bank (CCBG - Free Report) is in the Finance sector, and so far this year, shares have seen a price change of 27.88%. The bank holding company is currently shelling out a dividend of $0.17 per share, with a dividend yield of 2.01%. This compares to the Banks - Southeast industry's yield of 2.17% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.81%.

Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $0.68 is up 9.7% from last year. Capital City Bank has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis over the last 5 years for an average annual increase of 20.87%. 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. Capital City Bank's current payout ratio is 32%. This means it paid out 32% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Earnings growth looks solid for CCBG for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2022 is $2.43 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 22.73%.

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. But, not every company offers 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 CCBG is not only an attractive dividend play, but is also a compelling investment opportunity with a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).


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