All investors love getting big returns from their portfolio, whether it's through stocks, bonds, ETFs, or other types of securities. However, 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 make up large portions of long-term returns, and in many cases, dividend contributions surpass one-third of total returns.
First Mid Bancshares (FMBH) is headquartered in Mattoon, and is in the Finance sector. The stock has seen a price change of 4.21% since the start of the year. The bank holding company is currently shelling out a dividend of $0.25 per share, with a dividend yield of 2.46%. This compares to the Banks - Northeast industry's yield of 2.42% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.36%.
Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $1.00 is up 2% from last year. Over the last 5 years, First Mid Bancshares has increased its dividend 4 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 3.67%. 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. First Mid Bancshares's current payout ratio is 25%, meaning it paid out 25% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.
Looking at this fiscal year, FMBH expects solid earnings growth. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 is $4.48 per share, representing a year-over-year earnings growth rate of 12.56%.
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. During periods of rising interest rates, income investors must be mindful that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle. With that in mind, FMBH 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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First Mid Bancshares, Inc. (FMBH): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).