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.
Cash flow can come from bond interest, interest from other types of investments, and of course, 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.
Arrow Financial (AROW) is headquartered in Glens Falls, and is in the Finance sector. The stock has seen a price change of -6.06% since the start of the year. The bank holding company is paying out a dividend of $0.28 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 4.15% compared to the Banks - Northeast industry's yield of 2.51% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.53%.
In terms of dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $1.12 is up 2.8% from last year. Over the last 5 years, Arrow Financial has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 4.19%. 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. Arrow Financial's current payout ratio is 57%, meaning it paid out 57% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.
Earnings growth looks solid for AROW for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 is $2.65 per share, with earnings expected to increase 29.27% from the year ago period.
Investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons, from tax advantages and decreasing overall portfolio risk to considerably improving stock investing profits. However, not all companies offer 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 have to be mindful of the fact that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle during periods of rising interest rates. With that in mind, AROW is a compelling investment opportunity. Not only is it a strong dividend play, but the stock currently sits at a Zacks Rank of 3 (Hold).
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