Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Knoll (KNL) is a Top Dividend Stock Right Now: Should You Buy?

Read MoreHide Full Article

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 make up large portions of long-term returns, and in many cases, dividend contributions surpass one-third of total returns.

Knoll in Focus

Knoll is headquartered in East Greenville, and is in the Business Services sector. The stock has seen a price change of 39.44% since the start of the year. Currently paying a dividend of $0.17 per share, the company has a dividend yield of 2.96%. In comparison, the Business - Office Products industry's yield is 2.81%, while the S&P 500's yield is 1.93%.

Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $0.68 is up 13.3% from last year. Knoll has increased its dividend 2 times on a year-over-year basis over the last 5 years for an average annual increase of 5.92%. Looking ahead, future dividend growth will be dependent on earnings growth and payout ratio, which is the proportion of a company's annual earnings per share that it pays out as a dividend. Knoll's current payout ratio is 35%. This means it paid out 35% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

KNL is expecting earnings to expand this fiscal year as well. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 is $2.04 per share, representing a year-over-year earnings growth rate of 10.27%.

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. But, not every company offers 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 must be conscious of the fact that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle during periods of rising interest rates. That said, they can take comfort from the fact that KNL is not only an attractive dividend play, but is also a compelling investment opportunity with a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Published in