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This is Why BankFinancial (BFIN) is a Great Dividend Stock

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All investors love getting big returns from their portfolio, whether it's through stocks, bonds, ETFs, or other types of securities. 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.

BankFinancial in Focus

Headquartered in Burr Ridge, BankFinancial (BFIN - Free Report) is a Finance stock that has seen a price change of 4.68% so far this year. Currently paying a dividend of $0.1 per share, the company has a dividend yield of 2.56%. In comparison, the Financial - Savings and Loan industry's yield is 2.18%, while the S&P 500's yield is 1.93%.

Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $0.40 is up 8.1% from last year. BankFinancial has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis over the last 5 years for an average annual increase of 51.15%. Future dividend growth will depend on earnings growth as well as payout ratio, which is the proportion of a company's annual earnings per share that it pays out as a dividend. BankFinancial's current payout ratio is 47%, meaning it paid out 47% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Earnings growth looks solid for BFIN for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 is $0.97 per share, representing a year-over-year earnings growth rate of 12.79%.

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.

For instance, it's a rare occurrence when a tech start-up or big growth business offers their shareholders a dividend. It's more common to see larger companies with more established profits give out dividends. Income investors have to be mindful of the fact that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle during periods of rising interest rates. With that in mind, BFIN 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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