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Why Popular (BPOP) is a Top Dividend Stock for Your Portfolio

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Getting big returns from financial portfolios, whether through stocks, bonds, ETFs, other securities, or a combination of all, is an investor's dream. But for income investors, generating consistent cash flow from each of your liquid investments is your primary focus.

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

Popular in Focus

Popular (BPOP - Free Report) is headquartered in Hato Rey, and is in the Finance sector. The stock has seen a price change of 5.19% since the start of the year. The company that runs Banco Popular and other banks in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Is currently shelling out a dividend of $0.62 per share, with a dividend yield of 2.87%. This compares to the Banks - Southeast industry's yield of 2.77% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.58%.

Taking a look at the company's dividend growth, its current annualized dividend of $2.48 is up 9.3% from last year. Over the last 5 years, Popular has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 16.79%. 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, Popular's payout ratio is 30%, which means it paid out 30% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Earnings growth looks solid for BPOP for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2024 is $8.49 per share, with earnings expected to increase 3.92% from the year ago period.

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. However, not all companies offer 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. With that in mind, BPOP presents a compelling investment opportunity; it's not only an attractive dividend play, but the stock also boasts a strong Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).


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