Are You Looking for High-Growth Dividend Stocks?

Whether it’s through stocks, bonds, ETFs, or other types of securities, all investors love seeing their portfolios score big returns. However, for income investors, the primary focus is generating consistent cash flow from every liquid investment. Dividend stocks can meet that criteria. That cash flow can come from bond interest, interest from other types of investments, and of course, dividend stocks. A dividend is the distribution of a company’s earnings paid out to shareholders; it’s often measured in terms of the dividend yield, a metric that measures a dividend as a percent of the current stock price. Many academic studies show that dividends make up large portions of long-term returns, and in many cases, dividend contributions surpass one-third of total returns.

Southwest Gas (NYSE: SWX) is headquartered in Las Vegas, and is in the Utilities sector. The dividend stock has seen a price change of 19.18% since the start of the year. Currently paying a dividend of 55 cents per share, the company has a dividend yield of 2.39%. In comparison, the Utility – Gas Distribution industry’s yield is 2.71%, while the S&P 500’s yield is 1.88%. Looking at dividend growth, the company’s current annualized dividend of $2.18 is up 6.1% from last year. Southwest Gas has increased its dividend five times over the last five years for an average annual increase of 9.09%. 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. Right now, Southwest Gas’s payout ratio is 58%, which means it paid out 58% of its trailing 12-month EPS in dividends.

Source: InvestorPlace

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