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This is Why Horizon Bancorp (HBNC) is a Great Dividend Stock

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

Horizon Bancorp in Focus

Headquartered in Michigan City, Horizon Bancorp (HBNC - Free Report) is a Finance stock that has seen a price change of 10.34% so far this year. The bank holding company is currently shelling out a dividend of $0.13 per share, with a dividend yield of 2.97%. This compares to the Banks - Northeast industry's yield of 2% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.35%.

Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $0.52 is up 8.3% from last year. Horizon Bancorp has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis over the last 5 years for an average annual increase of 15.96%. 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. Horizon Bancorp's current payout ratio is 30%. This means it paid out 30% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Earnings growth looks solid for HBNC for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2021 is $1.77 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 15.69%.

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. But, not every company offers 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 HBNC is not only an attractive dividend play, but also represents a compelling investment opportunity with a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).


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