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Why TowneBank (TOWN) is a Great Dividend Stock Right Now

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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 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.

TowneBank in Focus

Based in Portsmouth, TowneBank (TOWN - Free Report) is in the Finance sector, and so far this year, shares have seen a price change of -12.29%. The community bank is paying out a dividend of $0.18 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 2.95% compared to the Banks - Southeast industry's yield of 2.09% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.98%.

Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $0.72 is up 2.9% from last year. In the past five-year period, TowneBank has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 10.48%. 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. TowneBank's current payout ratio is 37%, meaning it paid out 37% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Looking at this fiscal year, TOWN expects solid earnings growth. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2020 is $1.95 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 1.04%.

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. 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. With that in mind, TOWN presents a compelling investment opportunity; it's not only an attractive dividend play, but the stock also boasts a strong Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).


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