Why Essa Bancorp (ESSA) is a Top Dividend Stock for Your Portfolio
Getting big returns from financial portfolios, whether through stocks, bonds, ETFs, other securities, or a combination of all, is an investor's dream. 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 account for significant portions of long-term returns, with dividend contributions exceeding one-third of total returns in many cases.
Essa Bancorp in Focus
Essa Bancorp (ESSA) is headquartered in Stroudsburg, and is in the Finance sector. The stock has seen a price change of -0.06% since the start of the year. The bank is paying out a dividend of $0.12 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 2.77% compared to the Financial - Savings and Loan industry's yield of 2.43% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.3%.
In terms of dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $0.48 is up 2.1% from last year. Essa Bancorp has increased its dividend 3 times on a year-over-year basis over the last 5 years for an average annual increase of 7.68%. 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. Right now, Essa Bancorp's payout ratio is 29%, which means it paid out 29% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.
Earnings growth looks solid for ESSA for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2022 is $1.73 per share, with earnings expected to increase 4.85% 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. 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 their shareholders a dividend. It's more common to see larger companies with more established profits give out dividends. During periods of rising interest rates, income investors must be mindful that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle. With that in mind, ESSA 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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