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.
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.
Pitney Bowes (PBI) is headquartered in Shelton , and is in the Computer and Technology sector. The stock has seen a price change of 47.4% since the start of the year. The mailing equipment and software company is currently shelling out a dividend of $0.09 per share, with a dividend yield of 2.31%. This compares to the Office Automation and Equipment industry's yield of 2.35% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.39%.
Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $0.36 is up 20% from last year. Over the last 5 years, Pitney Bowes has increased its dividend 1 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 2.90%. 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. Pitney Bowes's current payout ratio is 26%, meaning it paid out 26% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.
Looking at this fiscal year, PBI expects solid earnings growth. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 is $1.52 per share, representing a year-over-year earnings growth rate of 12.59%.
Investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons, from tax advantages and decreasing overall portfolio risk to considerably improving stock investing profits. However, not all companies offer 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. During periods of rising interest rates, income investors must be mindful that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle. That said, they can take comfort from the fact that PBI 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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Pitney Bowes Inc. (PBI): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).