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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. But for income investors, generating consistent cash flow from each of your liquid investments is your primary focus.

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

Headquartered in Pasadena, East West Bancorp (EWBC - Free Report) is a Finance stock that has seen a price change of 18.01% so far this year. The bank holding company is currently shelling out a dividend of $0.80 per share, with a dividend yield of 2.41%. This compares to the Banks - West industry's yield of 2.66% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.41%.

Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $3.20 is up 33.3% from last year. Over the last 5 years, East West Bancorp has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 18.17%. 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. East West Bancorp's current payout ratio is 32%, meaning it paid out 32% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Earnings growth looks solid for EWBC for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 is $10.61 per share, representing a year-over-year earnings growth rate of 11.80%.

From greatly improving stock investing profits and reducing overall portfolio risk to providing tax advantages, investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons. 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 its shareholders a dividend. It's more common to see larger companies with more established profits give out dividends. 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 EWBC is not only an attractive dividend play, but also represents a compelling investment opportunity with a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

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