Why Northeast Community Bancorp (NECB) 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 when you're an income investor, your primary focus is generating consistent cash flow from each of your liquid investments.
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.
Northeast Community Bancorp in Focus
Headquartered in White Plains, Northeast Community Bancorp (NECB) is a Finance stock that has seen a price change of 0.81% so far this year. The bank holding company is paying out a dividend of $0.06 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 2.14% compared to the Banks - Northeast industry's yield of 2.29% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.51%.
Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $0.24 is up 18.8% from last year. Northeast Community Bancorp has increased its dividend 1 times on a year-over-year basis over the last 5 years for an average annual increase of 16.32%. 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. Northeast Community Bancorp's current payout ratio is 28%. This means it paid out 28% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.
Earnings growth looks solid for NECB for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2022 is $1.11 per share, with earnings expected to increase 48% from the year ago period.
Bottom Line
From greatly improving stock investing profits and reducing overall portfolio risk to providing tax advantages, investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons. 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 must be conscious of the fact that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle during periods of rising interest rates. That said, they can take comfort from the fact that NECB is not only an attractive dividend play, but also represents a compelling investment opportunity with a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
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