All investors love getting big returns from their portfolio, whether it's through stocks, bonds, ETFs, or other types of securities. But for income investors, generating consistent cash flow from each of your liquid investments is your primary focus.
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 make up large portions of long-term returns, and in many cases, dividend contributions surpass one-third of total returns.
Brandywine Realty Trust in Focus
Brandywine Realty Trust (BDN) is headquartered in Philadelphia, and is in the Finance sector. The stock has seen a price change of 14.06% since the start of the year. Currently paying a dividend of $0.19 per share, the company has a dividend yield of 5.18%. In comparison, the REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry's yield is 4.19%, while the S&P 500's yield is 1.92%.
Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $0.76 is up 5.6% from last year. In the past five-year period, Brandywine Realty Trust has increased its dividend 3 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 5.01%. 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. Brandywine Realty Trust's current payout ratio is 54%, meaning it paid out 54% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.
BDN is expecting earnings to expand this fiscal year as well. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 is $1.42 per share, representing a year-over-year earnings growth rate of 3.65%.
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. But, not every company offers 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 have to be mindful of the fact that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle during periods of rising interest rates. With that in mind, BDN presents a compelling investment opportunity; it's not only an attractive dividend play, but the stock also boasts a strong Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Brandywine Realty Trust (BDN): Free Stock Analysis Report
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