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Stock Yards Bancorp (SYBT) Could Be a Great Choice

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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.

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

Stock Yards Bancorp in Focus

Based in Louisville, Stock Yards Bancorp (SYBT - Free Report) is in the Finance sector, and so far this year, shares have seen a price change of 18.37%. Currently paying a dividend of $0.31 per share, the company has a dividend yield of 2.03%. In comparison, the Banks - Southeast industry's yield is 2.41%, while the S&P 500's yield is 1.52%.

Taking a look at the company's dividend growth, its current annualized dividend of $1.24 is up 5.1% from last year. Over the last 5 years, Stock Yards Bancorp has increased its dividend 4 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 2.97%. 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. Stock Yards's current payout ratio is 34%. This means it paid out 34% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Earnings growth looks solid for SYBT for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2024 is $3.69 per share, with earnings expected to increase 0.82% 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.

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 SYBT 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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