Yahoo Finance Target (TGT) Could Be a Great Choice
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.
Cash flow can come from bond interest, interest from other types of investments, and of course, dividends. A dividend is that coveted distribution of a company's earnings paid out to shareholders, and investors often view it by its dividend yield, a metric that measures the 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.
Target in Focus
Target (TGT) is headquartered in Minneapolis, and is in the Retail-Wholesale sector. The stock has seen a price change of 15.38% since the start of the year. The retailer is paying out a dividend of $1.1 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 2.68% compared to the Retail - Discount Stores industry's yield of 1.12% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.58%.
In terms of dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $4.40 is up 0.9% from last year. Target has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis over the last 5 years for an average annual increase of 15.40%. 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. Target's current payout ratio is 49%. This means it paid out 49% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.
Earnings growth looks solid for TGT for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2024 is $9.39 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 5.03%.
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.
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. During periods of rising interest rates, income investors must be mindful that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle. With that in mind, TGT 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).
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
Target Corporation (TGT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
