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All investors love getting big returns from their portfolio, whether it's through stocks, bonds, ETFs, or other types of securities. But 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 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.
First Business Financial Services in Focus
Based in Madison, First Business Financial Services (FBIZ) is in the Finance sector, and so far this year, shares have seen a price change of 9.31%. The bank holding company for First Business Bank and First Business Bank-Milwaukee is currently shelling out a dividend of $0.29 per share, with a dividend yield of 2.29%. This compares to the Banks - Midwest industry's yield of 2.99% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.57%.
Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $1.16 is up 16% from last year. Over the last 5 years, First Business Financial Services has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 10.80%. 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, First Business Financial Services's payout ratio is 20%, which means it paid out 20% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.
Earnings growth looks solid for FBIZ for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 is $5.43 per share, with earnings expected to increase 10.37% from the year ago period.
Bottom Line
Investors like dividends for many reasons; they greatly improve stock investing profits, decrease overall portfolio risk, and carry tax advantages, among others. 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 have to be mindful of the fact that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle during periods of rising interest rates. With that in mind, FBIZ 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).