Why CTO Realty (CTO) is a Great Dividend Stock Right Now

CTO

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.

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

CTO Realty in Focus

Headquartered in Winter Park, CTO Realty (CTO - Free Report) is a Finance stock that has seen a price change of -11% so far this year. The real estate company is paying out a dividend of $0.38 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 9.34% compared to the REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry's yield of 4.55% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.76%.

Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $1.52 is up 1.8% from last year. CTO Realty has increased its dividend 4 times on a year-over-year basis over the last 5 years for an average annual increase of 117.11%. 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, CTO Realty's payout ratio is 54%, which means it paid out 54% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

CTO is expecting earnings to expand this fiscal year as well. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2023 is $2.04 per share, with earnings expected to increase 11.48% from the year ago period.

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.

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, CTO 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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