Why TriCo (TCBK) is a Top Dividend Stock for Your Portfolio

Getting big returns from financial portfolios, whether through stocks, bonds, ETFs, other securities, or a combination of all, is an investor's dream. 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.

TriCo (TCBK) is headquartered in Chico, and is in the Finance sector. The stock has seen a price change of 11.25% since the start of the year. The holding company for Tri Counties Bank is paying out a dividend of $0.36 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 2.73% compared to the Banks - West industry's yield of 2.59% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.39%.

Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $1.44 is up 4.3% from last year. Over the last 5 years, TriCo has increased its dividend 3 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 9.48%. 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. TriCo's current payout ratio is 35%, meaning it paid out 35% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

TCBK is expecting earnings to expand this fiscal year as well. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 is $4.28 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 15.68%.

Investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons, from tax advantages and decreasing overall portfolio risk to considerably improving stock investing profits. It's important to keep in mind that not all companies provide 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 must be conscious 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 TCBK is not only an attractive dividend play, but also represents a compelling investment opportunity with a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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