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Are You Looking for a High-Growth Dividend Stock? Principal Financial (PFG) Could Be a Great Choice

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Whether it's through stocks, bonds, ETFs, or other types of securities, all investors love seeing their portfolios score big returns. 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 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 account for significant portions of long-term returns, with dividend contributions exceeding one-third of total returns in many cases.

Principal Financial in Focus

Headquartered in Des Moines, Principal Financial (PFG - Free Report) is a Finance stock that has seen a price change of -19.29% so far this year. The financial services company is paying out a dividend of $1.11 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 4.96% compared to the Financial - Investment Management industry's yield of 2.22% and the S&P 500's yield of 2.07%.

In terms of dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $2.20 is up 0.9% from last year. Principal Financial has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis over the last 5 years for an average annual increase of 10.63%. 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. Right now, Principal Financial's payout ratio is 39%, which means it paid out 39% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Looking at this fiscal year, PFG expects solid earnings growth. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2020 is $6.06 per share, representing a year-over-year earnings growth rate of 8.60%.

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. 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 PFG 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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