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Why Prudential (PRU) 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. But 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 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.

Prudential in Focus

Prudential (PRU - Free Report) is headquartered in Newark, and is in the Finance sector. The stock has seen a price change of -5.8% since the start of the year. Currently paying a dividend of $1.3 per share, the company has a dividend yield of 4.84%. In comparison, the Insurance - Multi line industry's yield is 1.56%, while the S&P 500's yield is 1.52%.

Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $5.40 is up 3.8% from last year. In the past five-year period, Prudential has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 4.10%. 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. Prudential's current payout ratio is 40%. This means it paid out 40% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Looking at this fiscal year, PRU expects solid earnings growth. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 is $14.34 per share, with earnings expected to increase 13.63% 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.

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, PRU 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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