Are You Looking for a High-Growth Dividend Stock?

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.

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 account for significant portions of long-term returns, with dividend contributions exceeding one-third of total returns in many cases.

Based in Hato Rey, Popular (BPOP) is in the Finance sector, and so far this year, shares have seen a price change of 20.22%. Currently paying a dividend of $0.75 per share, the company has a dividend yield of 2%. In comparison, the Banks - Southeast industry's yield is 2%, while the S&P 500's yield is 1.44%.

Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $3.00 is up 3.4% from last year. Over the last 5 years, Popular has increased its dividend 4 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 12.77%. 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. Popular's current payout ratio is 22%, meaning it paid out 22% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Earnings growth looks solid for BPOP for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 is $15.14 per share, with earnings expected to increase 24.61% from the year ago period.

Investors like dividends for many reasons; they greatly improve stock investing profits, decrease overall portfolio risk, and carry tax advantages, among others. 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 BPOP 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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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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