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Why First Industrial Realty Trust (FR) is a Great Dividend Stock Right Now

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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. However, 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 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 make up large portions of long-term returns, and in many cases, dividend contributions surpass one-third of total returns.

First Industrial Realty Trust in Focus

Headquartered in Chicago, First Industrial Realty Trust (FR - Free Report) is a Finance stock that has seen a price change of 22.21% so far this year. The real estate investment trust is paying out a dividend of $0.23 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 2.61% compared to the REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry's yield of 4.25% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.86%.

Taking a look at the company's dividend growth, its current annualized dividend of $0.92 is up 5.7% from last year. In the past five-year period, First Industrial Realty Trust has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 20.15%. 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. Right now, First Industrial Realty Trust's payout ratio is 57%, which means it paid out 57% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Earnings growth looks solid for FR for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 is $1.70 per share, representing a year-over-year earnings growth rate of 6.25%.

Bottom Line

Investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons, from tax advantages and decreasing overall portfolio risk to considerably improving stock investing profits. However, not all companies offer 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 must be conscious of the fact that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle during periods of rising interest rates. With that in mind, FR presents a compelling investment opportunity; it's not only an attractive dividend play, but the stock also boasts a strong Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).


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