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.
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 make up large portions of long-term returns, and in many cases, dividend contributions surpass one-third of total returns.
Headquartered in Gulfport, Hancock Whitney (HWC) is a Finance stock that has seen a price change of -6.41% so far this year. The holding company of Whitney Bank and Hancock Bank is paying out a dividend of $0.45 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 3.51% compared to the Banks - Southeast industry's yield of 2.33% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.61%.
Taking a look at the company's dividend growth, its current annualized dividend of $1.80 is up 20% from last year. Hancock Whitney has increased its dividend 2 times on a year-over-year basis over the last 5 years for an average annual increase of 7.74%. 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. Hancock Whitney's current payout ratio is 30%. This means it paid out 30% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.
Earnings growth looks solid for HWC for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 is $5.48 per share, representing a year-over-year earnings growth rate of 3.01%.
Investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons, from tax advantages and decreasing overall portfolio risk to considerably improving stock investing profits. It's important to keep in mind that not all companies provide 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, HWC 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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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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