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Why Huntsman (HUN) 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. 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 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.

Huntsman in Focus

Headquartered in The Woodlands, Huntsman (HUN - Free Report) is a Basic Materials stock that has seen a price change of 26.49% so far this year. The chemical company is paying out a dividend of $0.19 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 2.36% compared to the Chemical - Diversified industry's yield of 1.59% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.42%.

Taking a look at the company's dividend growth, its current annualized dividend of $0.75 is up 15.4% from last year. Over the last 5 years, Huntsman has increased its dividend 2 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 7.75%. 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, Huntsman's payout ratio is 32%, which means it paid out 32% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

HUN is expecting earnings to expand this fiscal year as well. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2021 is $3.15 per share, representing a year-over-year earnings growth rate of 221.43%.

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. 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 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 HUN is not only an attractive dividend play, but is also a compelling investment opportunity with a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).


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