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Are You Looking for a High-Growth Dividend Stock?

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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. 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 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.

Headquartered in Cincinnati, First Financial Bancorp (FFBC - Free Report) is a Finance stock that has seen a price change of -12.05% so far this year. Currently paying a dividend of $0.24 per share, the company has a dividend yield of 4.06%. In comparison, the Banks - Midwest industry's yield is 3.07%, while the S&P 500's yield is 1.49%.

Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $0.96 is up 2.1% from last year. Over the last 5 years, First Financial Bancorp has increased its dividend 1 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 0.82%. 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. First Financial's current payout ratio is 35%, meaning it paid out 35% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

FFBC is expecting earnings to expand this fiscal year as well. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 is $2.81 per share, with earnings expected to increase 7.25% from the year ago period.

From greatly improving stock investing profits and reducing overall portfolio risk to providing tax advantages, investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons. However, not all companies offer a quarterly payout.

For instance, it's a rare occurrence when a tech start-up or big growth business offers its 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, FFBC presents a compelling investment opportunity; it's not only an attractive dividend play, but the stock also boasts a strong Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).


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