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Why Ameriprise Financial Services (AMP) is a Top Dividend Stock for Your Portfolio

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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.

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.

Ameriprise Financial Services in Focus

Headquartered in Minneapolis, Ameriprise Financial Services (AMP - Free Report) is a Finance stock that has seen a price change of -20.8% so far this year. Currently paying a dividend of $0.97 per share, the company has a dividend yield of 3.15%. In comparison, the Financial - Investment Management industry's yield is 3%, while the S&P 500's yield is 2.1%.

Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $4.16 is up 9.2% from last year. Ameriprise Financial Services has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis over the last 5 years for an average annual increase of 9.28%. Future dividend growth will depend on earnings growth as well as payout ratio, which is the proportion of a company's annual earnings per share that it pays out as a dividend. Ameriprise's current payout ratio is 22%. This means it paid out 22% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Looking at this fiscal year, AMP expects solid earnings growth. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2020 is $16.83 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 4.53%.

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.

Big, established firms that have more secure profits are often seen as the best dividend options, but it's fairly uncommon to see high-growth businesses or tech start-ups offer their stockholders a dividend. 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 AMP 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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