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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. 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 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.

Equinix in Focus

Headquartered in Redwood City, Equinix (EQIX - Free Report) is a Finance stock that has seen a price change of -4.79% so far this year. Currently paying a dividend of $4.26 per share, the company has a dividend yield of 2.22%. In comparison, the REIT and Equity Trust - Retail industry's yield is 4.58%, while the S&P 500's yield is 1.6%.

Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $17.04 is up 17.6% from last year. Equinix has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis over the last 5 years for an average annual increase of 11.52%. 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. Equinix's current payout ratio is 53%. This means it paid out 53% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

EQIX is expecting earnings to expand this fiscal year as well. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2024 is $34.99 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 8.97%.

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.

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. During periods of rising interest rates, income investors must be mindful that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle. With that in mind, EQIX 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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