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Are You Looking for a High-Growth Dividend Stock? First Horizon National (FHN) Could Be a Great Choice

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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. But for income investors, generating consistent cash flow from each of your liquid investments is your primary focus.

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.

First Horizon National in Focus

Based in Memphis, First Horizon National (FHN - Free Report) is in the Finance sector, and so far this year, shares have seen a price change of 19.68%. Currently paying a dividend of $0.14 per share, the company has a dividend yield of 3.56%. In comparison, the Banks - Southeast industry's yield is 1.87%, while the S&P 500's yield is 1.92%.

Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $0.56 is up 16.7% from last year. Over the last 5 years, First Horizon National has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 25.06%. 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. First Horizon's current payout ratio is 38%. This means it paid out 38% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

FHN is expecting earnings to expand this fiscal year as well. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 is $1.58 per share, with earnings expected to increase 12.06% from the year ago period.

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


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