Why Lockheed Martin (LMT) is a Top Dividend Stock for Your Portfolio
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 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 make up large portions of long-term returns, and in many cases, dividend contributions surpass one-third of total returns.
Lockheed Martin in Focus
Headquartered in Bethesda, Lockheed Martin (LMT) is an Aerospace stock that has seen a price change of -9.1% so far this year. The aerospace and defense company is paying out a dividend of $2.4 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 2.71% compared to the Aerospace - Defense industry's yield of 0.85% and the S&P 500's yield of 2.5%.
Taking a look at the company's dividend growth, its current annualized dividend of $9.60 is up 6.7% from last year. Over the last 5 years, Lockheed Martin has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 10.08%. 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. Lockheed's current payout ratio is 44%. This means it paid out 44% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.
LMT is expecting earnings to expand this fiscal year as well. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2020 is $24.12 per share, with earnings expected to increase 9.89% 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. 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, LMT 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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