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 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.

Based in Los Angeles, Preferred Bank (PFBC) is in the Finance sector, and so far this year, shares have seen a price change of 5.62%. Currently paying a dividend of $0.80 per share, the company has a dividend yield of 3.21%. In comparison, the Banks - West industry's yield is 2.57%, while the S&P 500's yield is 1.44%.

Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $3.20 is up 6.7% from last year. Over the last 5 years, Preferred Bank has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 23.36%. 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. Preferred Bank's current payout ratio is 30%, meaning it paid out 30% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Earnings growth looks solid for PFBC for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 is $10.58 per share, representing a year-over-year earnings growth rate of 1.63%.

Investors like dividends for many reasons; they greatly improve stock investing profits, decrease overall portfolio risk, and carry tax advantages, among others. But, not every company offers 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. 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 PFBC 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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