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Synovus Financial (SNV) is a Top Dividend Stock Right Now: Should You Buy?

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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. 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 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.

Synovus Financial in Focus

Synovus Financial (SNV - Free Report) is headquartered in Columbus, and is in the Finance sector. The stock has seen a price change of 11.5% since the start of the year. The holding company for Synovus Bank is currently shelling out a dividend of $0.3 per share, with a dividend yield of 3.36%. This compares to the Banks - Southeast industry's yield of 1.86% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.96%.

Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $1.20 is up 20% from last year. Synovus Financial has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis over the last 5 years for an average annual increase of 31.97%. 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. Synovus's current payout ratio is 31%. This means it paid out 31% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Looking at this fiscal year, SNV expects solid earnings growth. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 is $4.02 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 10.44%.

Bottom Line

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.

High-growth firms or tech start-ups, for example, rarely provide their shareholders a dividend, while larger, more established companies that have more secure profits are often seen as the best dividend options. 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, SNV 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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