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Are You Looking for a High-Growth 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. 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 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.

Hanmi Financial in Focus

Hanmi Financial (HAFC - Free Report) is headquartered in Los Angeles, and is in the Finance sector. The stock has seen a price change of -2.2% since the start of the year. The bank holding company is currently shelling out a dividend of $0.27 per share, with a dividend yield of 4.68%. This compares to the Banks - West industry's yield of 2.84% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.57%.

Taking a look at the company's dividend growth, its current annualized dividend of $1.08 is up 8% from last year. In the past five-year period, Hanmi Financial has increased its dividend 2 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 22.92%. 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. Right now, Hanmi Financial's payout ratio is 49%, which means it paid out 49% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Earnings growth looks solid for HAFC for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 is $2.60 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 26.83%.

Bottom Line

Investors like dividends for many reasons; they greatly improve stock investing profits, decrease overall portfolio risk, and carry tax advantages, among others. 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. 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 HAFC is not only an attractive dividend play, but is also a compelling investment opportunity with a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).


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