雅虎香港財經 MetLife (MET) Could Be a Great Choice
Whether it's through stocks, bonds, ETFs, or other types of securities, all investors love seeing their portfolios score big returns. But when you're an income investor, your primary focus is generating consistent cash flow from each of your liquid investments.
While cash flow can come from bond interest or interest from other types of investments, income investors hone in on 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.
MetLife in Focus
Based in New York, MetLife (MET) is in the Finance sector, and so far this year, shares have seen a price change of 21.65%. Currently paying a dividend of $0.55 per share, the company has a dividend yield of 2.71%. In comparison, the Insurance - Multi line industry's yield is 1.86%, while the S&P 500's yield is 1.55%.
In terms of dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $2.18 is up 5.8% from last year. MetLife has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis over the last 5 years for an average annual increase of 4.31%. Any future dividend growth will depend on both earnings growth and the company's payout ratio; a payout ratio is the proportion of a firm's annual earnings per share that it pays out as a dividend. Right now, MetLife's payout ratio is 27%, which means it paid out 27% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.
Earnings growth looks solid for MET for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2024 is $8.68 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 18.42%.
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.
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. That said, they can take comfort from the fact that MET is not only an attractive dividend play, but is also a compelling investment opportunity with a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
MetLife, Inc. (MET) : Free Stock Analysis Report
