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Why Eli Lilly (LLY) is a Top Dividend Stock for Your Portfolio

Getting big returns from financial portfolios, whether through stocks, bonds, ETFs, other securities, or a combination of all, is an investor's dream. 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 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.

Eli Lilly in Focus

Eli Lilly (LLY) is headquartered in Indianapolis, and is in the Medical sector. The stock has seen a price change of 12.68% since the start of the year. The drugmaker is currently shelling out a dividend of $0.74 per share, with a dividend yield of 2%. This compares to the Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry's yield of 2.31% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.66%.

Taking a look at the company's dividend growth, its current annualized dividend of $2.96 is up 14.7% from last year. In the past five-year period, Eli Lilly has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 8.34%. 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. Lilly's current payout ratio is 43%, meaning it paid out 43% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

LLY is expecting earnings to expand this fiscal year as well. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2020 is $7.32 per share, with earnings expected to increase 21.19% 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. 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. That said, they can take comfort from the fact that LLY is not only an attractive dividend play, but is also a compelling investment opportunity with a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).


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