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. 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 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 Eau Claire, Citizens Community Bancorp, Inc. (CZWI) is a Finance stock that has seen a price change of 14.42% so far this year. The company is paying out a dividend of $0.10 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 2.06% compared to the Financial - Savings and Loan industry's yield of 2.35% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.45%.

Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $0.42 is up 16.7% from last year. Over the last 5 years, Citizens Community Bancorp, Inc. has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 11.77%. 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. Citizens Community Bancorp's current payout ratio is 27%, meaning it paid out 27% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Earnings growth looks solid for CZWI for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 is $1.81 per share, representing a year-over-year earnings growth rate of 23.97%.

From greatly improving stock investing profits and reducing overall portfolio risk to providing tax advantages, investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons. However, not all companies offer a quarterly payout.

For instance, it's a rare occurrence when a tech start-up or big growth business offers its shareholders a dividend. It's more common to see larger companies with more established profits give out dividends. Income investors have to be mindful 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 CZWI is not only an attractive dividend play, but is also a compelling investment opportunity with a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Zacks' Research Chief Names "Stock Most Likely to Double"

Our team of experts has just released the 5 stocks with the greatest probability of gaining +100% or more in the coming months. Of those 5, Director of Research Sheraz Mian highlights the one stock set to climb highest.

This top pick is a little-known satellite-based communications firm. Space is projected to become a trillion dollar industry, and this company's customer base is growing fast. Analysts have forecasted a major revenue breakout in 2025. Of course, all our elite picks aren't winners but this one could far surpass earlier Zacks' Stocks Set to Double like Hims & Hers Health, which shot up +209%.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

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

Zacks Investment Research