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Are You Looking for a High-Growth Dividend Stock? Eli Lilly (LLY) Could Be a Great Choice

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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.

While cash flow can come from bond interest or interest from other types of investments, income investors hone in on 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 account for significant portions of long-term returns, with dividend contributions exceeding one-third of total returns in many cases.

Eli Lilly in Focus

Based in Indianapolis, Eli Lilly (LLY - Free Report) is in the Medical sector, and so far this year, shares have seen a price change of -4.02%. The drugmaker is paying out a dividend of $0.64 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 2.32% compared to the Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry's yield of 2.77% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.91%.

Taking a look at the company's dividend growth, its current annualized dividend of $2.58 is up 14.7% from last year. Eli Lilly has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis over the last 5 years for an average annual increase of 4.89%. 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, Lilly's payout ratio is 46%, which means it paid out 46% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Looking at this fiscal year, LLY expects solid earnings growth. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 is $5.72 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 3.06%.

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 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 LLY 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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