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This is Why Ryman Hospitality Properties (RHP) 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. 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 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 make up large portions of long-term returns, and in many cases, dividend contributions surpass one-third of total returns.

Ryman Hospitality Properties in Focus

Ryman Hospitality Properties (RHP - Free Report) is headquartered in Nashville, and is in the Finance sector. The stock has seen a price change of 14.74% since the start of the year. The hotel and resort real estate investment trust is paying out a dividend of $0.9 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 4.7% compared to the REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry's yield of 4.31% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.87%.

In terms of dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $3.60 is up 5.9% from last year. In the past five-year period, Ryman Hospitality Properties has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 9.49%. 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. Ryman Hospitality Properties's current payout ratio is 58%. This means it paid out 58% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Looking at this fiscal year, RHP expects solid earnings growth. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 is $6.71 per share, with earnings expected to increase 14.51% 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.

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, RHP 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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