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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 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.

Home Bancorp in Focus

Home Bancorp (HBCP - Free Report) is headquartered in Lafayette, and is in the Finance sector. The stock has seen a price change of -0.67% since the start of the year. Currently paying a dividend of $0.27 per share, the company has a dividend yield of 2.35%. In comparison, the Banks - Southeast industry's yield is 2.43%, while the S&P 500's yield is 1.58%.

Taking a look at the company's dividend growth, its current annualized dividend of $1.08 is up 6.9% from last year. Over the last 5 years, Home Bancorp has increased its dividend 4 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 3.74%. Any future dividend growth will depend on both earnings growth and the company's payout ratio; a payout ratio is the proportion of a firm's annual earnings per share that it pays out as a dividend. Right now, Home Bancorp's payout ratio is 23%, which means it paid out 23% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Earnings growth looks solid for HBCP for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 is $4.77 per share, representing a year-over-year earnings growth rate of 4.61%.

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.

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 HBCP is not only an attractive dividend play, but also represents a compelling investment opportunity with a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).


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