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Why Cadence (CADE) 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. However, 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.

Cadence in Focus

Headquartered in Tupelo, Cadence (CADE - Free Report) is a Finance stock that has seen a price change of -8.8% so far this year. The bank is paying out a dividend of $0.28 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 3.5% compared to the Banks - Southeast industry's yield of 2.42% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.53%.

Taking a look at the company's dividend growth, its current annualized dividend of $1.10 is up 10% from last year. Cadence has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis over the last 5 years for an average annual increase of 8.28%. 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. Cadence's current payout ratio is 39%, meaning it paid out 39% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Earnings growth looks solid for CADE for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 is $2.85 per share, representing a year-over-year earnings growth rate of 4.01%.

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. It's important to keep in mind that not all companies provide 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. During periods of rising interest rates, income investors must be mindful that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle. That said, they can take comfort from the fact that CADE is not only an attractive dividend play, but is also a compelling investment opportunity with a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).


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