Why Regions Financial (RF) is a Great Dividend Stock Right Now

All investors love getting big returns from their portfolio, whether it's through stocks, bonds, ETFs, or other types of securities. However, 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.

Regions Financial in Focus

Headquartered in Birmingham, Regions Financial (RF) is a Finance stock that has seen a price change of -48.43% so far this year. Currently paying a dividend of $0.16 per share, the company has a dividend yield of 7.01%. In comparison, the Banks - Southeast industry's yield is 3.05%, while the S&P 500's yield is 2.52%.

Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $0.62 is up 5.1% from last year. In the past five-year period, Regions Financial has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 28.24%. 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. Regions Financial's current payout ratio is 40%, meaning it paid out 40% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

RF is expecting earnings to expand this fiscal year as well. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2020 is $1.56 per share, with earnings expected to increase 0.65% 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. But, not every company offers 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 have to be mindful of the fact that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle during periods of rising interest rates. With that in mind, RF 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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