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Why Knoll (KNL) is a Top Dividend Stock for Your Portfolio

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Whether it's through stocks, bonds, ETFs, or other types of securities, all investors love seeing their portfolios score big returns. But for income investors, generating consistent cash flow from each of your liquid investments is your primary focus.

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.

Knoll in Focus

Headquartered in East Greenville, Knoll is a Business Services stock that has seen a price change of 31.67% so far this year. Currently paying a dividend of $0.15 per share, the company has a dividend yield of 3.13%. In comparison, the Business - Office Products industry's yield is 2.94%, while the S&P 500's yield is 1.95%.

Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $0.68 is up 13.3% from last year. In the past five-year period, Knoll has increased its dividend 1 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 5.80%. Future dividend growth will depend on earnings growth as well as payout ratio, which is the proportion of a company's annual earnings per share that it pays out as a dividend. Right now, Knoll's payout ratio is 32%, which means it paid out 32% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Earnings growth looks solid for KNL for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 is $2.03 per share, representing a year-over-year earnings growth rate of 9.73%.

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. However, not all companies offer 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. During periods of rising interest rates, income investors must be mindful that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle. With that in mind, KNL 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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