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Popular (BPOP) Could Be a Great Choice

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

Popular (BPOP - Free Report) is headquartered in Hato Rey, and is in the Finance sector. The stock has seen a price change of 31.47% since the start of the year. Currently paying a dividend of $0.90 per share, the company has a dividend yield of 2.2%. In comparison, the Banks - Southeast industry's yield is 1.86%, while the S&P 500's yield is 1.41%.

Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $3.60 is up 24.1% from last year. Over the last 5 years, Popular has increased its dividend 4 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 12.77%. 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. Popular's current payout ratio is 20%, meaning it paid out 20% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

BPOP is expecting earnings to expand this fiscal year as well. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 is $15.72 per share, with earnings expected to increase 29.38% from the year ago period.

From greatly improving stock investing profits and reducing overall portfolio risk to providing tax advantages, investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons. It's important to keep in mind that not all companies provide 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. With that in mind, BPOP presents a compelling investment opportunity; it's not only an attractive dividend play, but the stock also boasts a strong Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

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