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Why Greif (GEF) 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. But for income investors, generating consistent cash flow from each of your liquid investments is your primary focus.

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.

Greif in Focus

Based in Delaware, Greif (GEF - Free Report) is in the Industrial Products sector, and so far this year, shares have seen a price change of -5.67%. The industrial packaging company is paying out a dividend of $0.46 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 3.23% compared to the Containers - Paper and Packaging industry's yield of 2.61% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.46%.

Taking a look at the company's dividend growth, its current annualized dividend of $1.84 is up 3.4% from last year. In the past five-year period, Greif has increased its dividend 2 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 1.54%. Any future dividend growth will depend on both earnings growth and the company's payout ratio; a payout ratio is the proportion of a firm's annual earnings per share that it pays out as a dividend. Right now, Greif's payout ratio is 29%, which means it paid out 29% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

GEF is expecting earnings to expand this fiscal year as well. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2022 is $6.33 per share, representing a year-over-year earnings growth rate of 13.04%.

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.

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 GEF 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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