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Are You Looking for a High-Growth Dividend Stock?

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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 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 account for significant portions of long-term returns, with dividend contributions exceeding one-third of total returns in many cases.

Eaton in Focus

Based in Dublin, Eaton (ETN - Free Report) is in the Industrial Products sector, and so far this year, shares have seen a price change of 5.5%. The power management company is paying out a dividend of $0.86 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 2.08% compared to the Manufacturing - Electronics industry's yield of 1.03% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.8%.

Taking a look at the company's dividend growth, its current annualized dividend of $3.44 is up 6.2% from last year. Eaton has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis over the last 5 years for an average annual increase of 4.70%. 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. Right now, Eaton's payout ratio is 43%, which means it paid out 43% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

ETN is expecting earnings to expand this fiscal year as well. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2023 is $8.24 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 8.85%.

Bottom Line

From greatly improving stock investing profits and reducing overall portfolio risk to providing tax advantages, investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons. However, not all companies offer 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. With that in mind, ETN 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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