Getting big returns from financial portfolios, whether through stocks, bonds, ETFs, other securities, or a combination of all, is an investor's dream. But when you're an income investor, your primary focus is generating consistent cash flow from each of your liquid investments.
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.
Headquartered in Cincinnati, Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) is a Finance stock that has seen a price change of 7.48% so far this year. The company is paying out a dividend of $0.40 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 3.18% compared to the Banks - Major Regional industry's yield of 2.89% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.39%.
Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $1.60 is up 3.9% from last year. Over the last 5 years, Fifth Third Bancorp has increased its dividend 4 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 7.84%. 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. Fifth Third Bancorp's current payout ratio is 43%, meaning it paid out 43% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.
FITB is expecting earnings to expand this fiscal year as well. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 is $4.00 per share, with earnings expected to increase 10.19% from the year ago period.
From greatly improving stock investing profits and reducing overall portfolio risk to providing tax advantages, investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons. It's important to keep in mind that not all companies provide a quarterly payout.
High-growth firms or tech start-ups, for example, rarely provide their shareholders a dividend, while larger, more established companies that have more secure profits are often seen as the best dividend options. Income investors must be conscious of the fact that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle during periods of rising interest rates. With that in mind, FITB 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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Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).