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Why Banco Santander-Chile (BSAC) 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.

Based in Santiago Chile, Banco Santander-Chile (BSAC - Free Report) is in the Finance sector, and so far this year, shares have seen a price change of 25.03%. The financial holding company is paying out a dividend of $0.99 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 4.21% compared to the Banks - Foreign industry's yield of 3.3% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.52%.

Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $0.99 is up 74% from last year. Over the last 5 years, Banco Santander-Chile has increased its dividend 4 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 6.02%. 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. Banco Santander-Chile's current payout ratio is 25%, meaning it paid out 25% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Earnings growth looks solid for BSAC for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 is $2.33 per share, with earnings expected to increase 23.94% from the year ago period.

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. Income investors have to be mindful of the fact that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle during periods of rising interest rates. That said, they can take comfort from the fact that BSAC 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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