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.
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 make up large portions of long-term returns, and in many cases, dividend contributions surpass one-third of total returns.
Consolidated Edison (ED) is headquartered in New York, and is in the Utilities sector. The stock has seen a price change of 15.77% since the start of the year. The utility is paying out a dividend of $0.89 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 3.09% compared to the Utility - Electric Power industry's yield of 2.88% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.4%.
Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $3.55 is up 4.4% from last year. Over the last 5 years, Consolidated Edison has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 2.28%. 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. Con Ed's current payout ratio is 60%, meaning it paid out 60% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.
ED is expecting earnings to expand this fiscal year as well. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 is $6.06 per share, with earnings expected to increase 6.32% from the year ago period.
Investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons, from tax advantages and decreasing overall portfolio risk to considerably improving stock investing profits. But, not every company offers 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 ED 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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Consolidated Edison Inc (ED): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).