Are You Looking for a High-Growth Dividend Stock? Emerson Electric (EMR) Could Be a Great Choice
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 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.
Emerson Electric in Focus
Based in St. Louis, Emerson Electric (EMR) is in the Industrial Products sector, and so far this year, shares have seen a price change of 15.29%. The maker of process controls systems, valves and analytical instruments is paying out a dividend of $0.51 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 2.22% compared to the Manufacturing - Electronics industry's yield of 0.37% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.31%.
Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $2.06 is up 2% from last year. Emerson Electric has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis over the last 5 years for an average annual increase of 1.28%. 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. Emerson Electric's current payout ratio is 49%, meaning it paid out 49% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.
Earnings growth looks solid for EMR for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2021 is $4.91 per share, with earnings expected to increase 19.76% from the year ago period.
Bottom Line
Investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons, from tax advantages and decreasing overall portfolio risk to considerably improving stock investing profits. 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. 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, EMR presents a compelling investment opportunity; it's not only an attractive dividend play, but the stock also boasts a strong Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
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