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 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.
Comerica in Focus
Headquartered in Dallas, Comerica (CMA) is a Finance stock that has seen a price change of 14.95% so far this year. The regional bank is currently shelling out a dividend of $0.6 per share, with a dividend yield of 3.04%. This compares to the Banks – Major Regional industry’s yield of 2.9% and the S&P 500’s yield of 1.97%.
Taking a look at the company’s dividend growth, its current annualized dividend of $2.40 is up 30.4% from last year. Over the last 5 years, Comerica has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 21.11%. Any future dividend growth will depend on both earnings growth and the company’s payout ratio; a payout ratio is the proportion of a firm’s annual earnings per share that it pays out as a dividend. Comerica’s current payout ratio is 33%, meaning it paid out 33% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.
Looking at this fiscal year, CMA expects solid earnings growth. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 is $8.20 per share, representing a year-over-year earnings growth rate of 13.89%.
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.
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. With that in mind, CMA 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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