Are You Looking for a High-Growth Dividend Stock? HP (HPQ) Could Be a Great Choice

Getting big returns from financial portfolios, whether through stocks, bonds, ETFs, other securities, or a combination of all, is an investor's dream. However, 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 the distribution of a company's earnings paid out to shareholders; it's often viewed by its dividend yield, a metric that measures a 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.

HP in Focus

Headquartered in Palo Alto, HP (HPQ) is a Computer and Technology stock that has seen a price change of 23.26% so far this year. The personal computer and printer maker is paying out a dividend of $0.19 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 2.56% compared to the Computer - Mini computers industry's yield of 0.93% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.38%.

Taking a look at the company's dividend growth, its current annualized dividend of $0.78 is up 10.6% from last year. In the past five-year period, HP has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 8.95%. 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. HP's current payout ratio is 31%. This means it paid out 31% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Earnings growth looks solid for HPQ for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2021 is $3.26 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 42.98%.

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.

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, HPQ 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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