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Are You Looking for a High-Growth Dividend Stock? Prosperity Bancshares (PB) Could Be a Great Choice

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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 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 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.

Prosperity Bancshares in Focus

Prosperity Bancshares (PB - Free Report) is headquartered in Houston, and is in the Finance sector. The stock has seen a price change of -9.57% since the start of the year. Currently paying a dividend of $0.52 per share, the company has a dividend yield of 3.18%. In comparison, the Banks - Southwest industry's yield is 1.3%, while the S&P 500's yield is 1.51%.

Taking a look at the company's dividend growth, its current annualized dividend of $2.08 is up 4.5% from last year. Prosperity Bancshares has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis over the last 5 years for an average annual increase of 10.08%. 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. Prosperity Bancshares's current payout ratio is 38%, meaning it paid out 38% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Looking at this fiscal year, PB expects solid earnings growth. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2022 is $5.62 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 0.36%.

Bottom Line

Investors like dividends for many reasons; they greatly improve stock investing profits, decrease overall portfolio risk, and carry tax advantages, among others. But, not every company offers a quarterly payout.

Big, established firms that have more secure profits are often seen as the best dividend options, but it's fairly uncommon to see high-growth businesses or tech start-ups offer their stockholders a dividend. During periods of rising interest rates, income investors must be mindful that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle. With that in mind, PB 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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