Are You Looking for a High-Growth Dividend Stock?

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.

Headquartered in New York, Equitable Holdings, Inc. (EQH) is a Finance stock that has seen a price change of 12.74% so far this year. The company is paying out a dividend of $0.27 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 2.03% compared to the Insurance - Multi line industry's yield of 1.8% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.52%.

Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $1.08 is up 14.9% from last year. Over the last 5 years, Equitable Holdings, Inc. has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 9.67%. Looking ahead, future dividend growth will be dependent on earnings growth and payout ratio, which is the proportion of a company's annual earnings per share that it pays out as a dividend. Equitable Holdings's current payout ratio is 16%, meaning it paid out 16% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Earnings growth looks solid for EQH for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 is $6.36 per share, with earnings expected to increase 7.25% from the year ago period.

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.

Big, established firms that have more secure profits are often seen as the best dividend options, but it's fairly uncommon to see high-growth businesses or tech start-ups offer their stockholders a dividend. 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, EQH 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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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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