Whether it's through stocks, bonds, ETFs, or other types of securities, all investors love seeing their portfolios score big returns. But for income investors, generating consistent cash flow from each of your liquid investments is your primary focus.
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.
NatWest Group (NWG) is headquartered in London, and is in the Finance sector. The stock has seen a price change of -12.34% since the start of the year. Currently paying a dividend of $0.61 per share, the company has a dividend yield of 7.91%. In comparison, the Banks - Foreign industry's yield is 2.63%, while the S&P 500's yield is 1.47%.
Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $1.21 is up 90.6% from last year. Over the last 5 years, NatWest Group has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 47.67%. 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. NatWest's current payout ratio is 28%, meaning it paid out 28% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.
Looking at this fiscal year, NWG expects solid earnings growth. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 is $1.95 per share, representing a year-over-year earnings growth rate of 8.94%.
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.
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 NWG 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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NatWest Group plc (NWG): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).