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Are You Looking for a High-Growth Dividend Stock?

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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 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.

Principal Financial in Focus

Based in Des Moines, Principal Financial (PFG - Free Report) is in the Finance sector, and so far this year, shares have seen a price change of 2.4%. Currently paying a dividend of $0.67 per share, the company has a dividend yield of 3.33%. In comparison, the Financial - Investment Management industry's yield is 3.06%, while the S&P 500's yield is 1.59%.

Taking a look at the company's dividend growth, its current annualized dividend of $2.68 is up 3.1% from last year. Principal Financial has increased its dividend 4 times on a year-over-year basis over the last 5 years for an average annual increase of 4.99%. 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. Principal Financial's current payout ratio is 41%. This means it paid out 41% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

PFG is expecting earnings to expand this fiscal year as well. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2024 is $7.59 per share, with earnings expected to increase 15.88% 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. But, not every company offers a quarterly payout.

High-growth firms or tech start-ups, for example, rarely provide their shareholders a dividend, while larger, more established companies that have more secure profits are often seen as the best dividend options. 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 PFG 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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