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Bryn Mawr Bank (BMTC) is a Top Dividend Stock Right Now: Should You Buy?

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All investors love getting big returns from their portfolio, whether it's through stocks, bonds, ETFs, or other types of securities. 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 account for significant portions of long-term returns, with dividend contributions exceeding one-third of total returns in many cases.

Bryn Mawr Bank in Focus

Headquartered in Bryn Mawr, Bryn Mawr Bank is a Finance stock that has seen a price change of 28.49% so far this year. The bank holding company is paying out a dividend of $0.27 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 2.75% compared to the Banks - Northeast industry's yield of 1.99% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.37%.

In terms of dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $1.08 is up 1.9% from last year. Over the last 5 years, Bryn Mawr Bank has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 6.66%. 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. Bryn Mawr Bank's current payout ratio is 35%, meaning it paid out 35% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Earnings growth looks solid for BMTC for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2021 is $2.76 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 68.29%.

Bottom Line

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.

For instance, it's a rare occurrence when a tech start-up or big growth business offers their shareholders a dividend. It's more common to see larger companies with more established profits give out dividends. Income investors must be conscious of the fact that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle during periods of rising interest rates. With that in mind, BMTC is a compelling investment opportunity. Not only is it a strong dividend play, but the stock currently sits at a Zacks Rank of 3 (Hold).

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