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Are You Looking for a High-Growth Dividend Stock?

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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. However, when you're an income investor, your primary focus is generating consistent cash flow from each of your liquid investments.

While cash flow can come from bond interest or interest from other types of investments, income investors hone in on 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 make up large portions of long-term returns, and in many cases, dividend contributions surpass one-third of total returns.

Chemung Financial (CHMG - Free Report) is headquartered in Elmira, and is in the Finance sector. The stock has seen a price change of 6.49% since the start of the year. Currently paying a dividend of $0.34 per share, the company has a dividend yield of 2.62%. In comparison, the Banks - Southeast industry's yield is 2.33%, while the S&P 500's yield is 1.49%.

Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $1.36 is up 9.7% from last year. Over the last 5 years, Chemung Financial has increased its dividend 2 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 3.09%. 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. Chemung Financial's current payout ratio is 26%, meaning it paid out 26% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Earnings growth looks solid for CHMG for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 is $5.90 per share, representing a year-over-year earnings growth rate of 18.95%.

Investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons, from tax advantages and decreasing overall portfolio risk to considerably improving stock investing profits. But, not every company offers 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. Income investors must be conscious of the fact that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle during periods of rising interest rates. With that in mind, CHMG 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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