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Are You Looking for a High-Growth Dividend Stock? Federated Investors (FII) Could Be a Great Choice

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

Federated Investors in Focus

Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Federated Investors is a Finance stock that has seen a price change of 15.71% so far this year. The one of the nation's largest managers of money market funds is paying out a dividend of $0.27 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 3.52% compared to the Financial - Investment Management industry's yield of 2.88% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.96%.

Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $1.08 is up 1.9% from last year. Federated Investors has increased its dividend 1 times on a year-over-year basis over the last 5 years for an average annual increase of 1.49%. 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. Federated Investors's current payout ratio is 46%, meaning it paid out 46% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Looking at this fiscal year, FII expects solid earnings growth. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 is $2.45 per share, with earnings expected to increase 12.39% from the year ago period.

Bottom Line

Investors like dividends for many reasons; they greatly improve stock investing profits, decrease overall portfolio risk, and carry tax advantages, among others. 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, FII 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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