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Stifel Financial (SF) is a Top Dividend Stock Right Now: Should You Buy?

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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.

Stifel Financial in Focus

Stifel Financial (SF - Free Report) is headquartered in St. Louis, and is in the Finance sector. The stock has seen a price change of 13.13% since the start of the year. Currently paying a dividend of $0.42 per share, the company has a dividend yield of 2.15%. In comparison, the Financial - Investment Bank industry's yield is 0.74%, while the S&P 500's yield is 1.58%.

Taking a look at the company's dividend growth, its current annualized dividend of $1.68 is up 16.7% from last year. Stifel Financial has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis over the last 5 years for an average annual increase of 42.22%. 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. Stifel's current payout ratio is 35%. This means it paid out 35% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

SF is expecting earnings to expand this fiscal year as well. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2024 is $7.04 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 50.43%.

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.

For instance, it's a rare occurrence when a tech start-up or big growth business offers their shareholders a dividend. It's more common to see larger companies with more established profits give out dividends. 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 SF 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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