Pinnacle West (PNW) Rewards Shareholders With 1.7% Dividend Hike
Pinnacle West Capital Corp. PNW announced that its board of directors has approved a 1.7% increase in its quarterly dividend rate. The new dividend rate will be 88 cents per share compared with the previous quarter’s 86.5 cents, payable on Dec 1, 2023, to stockholders of record as of Nov 1, 2023.
This increase resulted in an annualized dividend of $3.52 per share compared with the previous level of $3.46. The current dividend yield is 4.57%, higher than the Zacks utility electric power industry’s average of 4.07%.
Can Pinnacle West Sustain Dividend Hikes?
Pinnacle West’s Metro Phoenix service region continues to witness solid growth in commercial activities. The company expects new investment and establishment of businesses to increase demand for its services. PNW expects the development of new data centers in the region to create demand for 640 megawatts of electricity by 2035.
The company has a capital plan of $5.32 billion for 2023-2025, at an average annual growth rate of 5-7%. It projects long-term retail customer growth of 1.5-2.5% and weather-adjusted retail electricity sales growth of 4.5-6.5%. For 2023, it expects retail electricity sales growth of 2-4%.
The ongoing and planned future investments will help PNW in making its systems clean and its services affordable, and developing an innovative program to assist its customers. The company announced its goal to deliver 100% clean, carbon-free electricity to customers by 2050. It also aims to have its production portfolio produce 65% clean energy by the end of 2030. Furthermore, PNW is committed to exiting coal-fired electricity generation by 2031.
Pinnacle West’s strategic investments, growth prospects and ability to further enhance its performance indicate that management will have enough funds to sustain its shareholder-friendly initiatives in the future.
Utilities’ Legacy of Dividend Payment
Companies involved in utility services generally have stable operations and earnings. Consistent performance, regulated returns and the ability to generate cash flows allow utilities to reward shareholders with regular dividends.
Recently, a few electric power companies like FirstEnergy Corp. FE, IDACORP Inc. IDA and Fortis Inc. FTS have raised their quarterly dividend rate by 5%, 5.1% and 4.4%, respectively.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for FirstEnergy’s 2023 earnings is pegged at $2.53 per share, implying a year-over-year increase of 5%. FE’s current dividend yield is 4.36%.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for IDACORP’s 2023 earnings is pegged at $4.97 per share, implying a year-over-year decrease of 2.7%. IDA’s current dividend yield is 3.29%.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Fortis’ 2023 earnings is pinned at $2.18 per share, implying a year-over-year increase of 1.9%. FTS’ current dividend yield is 4.22%.
Price Performance
In the past year, Pinnacle West’s shares have risen 20.8% against the industry’s average decline of 6.1%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Zacks Rank
Pinnacle West currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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FirstEnergy Corporation (FE) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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