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Why CNO Financial (CNO) 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 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.

CNO Financial in Focus

CNO Financial (CNO - Free Report) is headquartered in Carmel, and is in the Finance sector. The stock has seen a price change of 0.5% since the start of the year. Currently paying a dividend of $0.12 per share, the company has a dividend yield of 2.63%. In comparison, the Insurance - Multi line industry's yield is 2.42%, while the S&P 500's yield is 1.63%.

Taking a look at the company's dividend growth, its current annualized dividend of $0.48 is up 11.6% from last year. CNO Financial has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis over the last 5 years for an average annual increase of 11.56%. 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, CNO's payout ratio is 25%, which means it paid out 25% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Earnings growth looks solid for CNO for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2020 is $2.05 per share, representing a year-over-year earnings growth rate of 13.89%.

Bottom Line

Investors like dividends for many reasons; they greatly improve stock investing profits, decrease overall portfolio risk, and carry tax advantages, among others. However, not all companies offer 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 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 CNO 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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