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Are You Looking for a High-Growth Dividend Stock? United Technologies (UTX) Could Be a Great Choice

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Getting big returns from financial portfolios, whether through stocks, bonds, ETFs, other securities, or a combination of all, is an investor's dream. 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.

United Technologies in Focus

United Technologies is headquartered in Farmington, and is in the Conglomerates sector. The stock has seen a price change of 16.74% since the start of the year. The maker of elevators, jet engines and other products is paying out a dividend of $0.74 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 2.37% compared to the Diversified Operations industry's yield of 1.55% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.97%.

In terms of dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $2.94 is up 3.7% from last year. In the past five-year period, United Technologies has increased its dividend 4 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 4.26%. 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. United Technologies's current payout ratio is 37%, meaning it paid out 37% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Earnings growth looks solid for UTX for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 is $8.02 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 5.39%.

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 must be conscious of the fact that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle during periods of rising interest rates. With that in mind, UTX 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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