Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (BIP) 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. But for income investors, generating consistent cash flow from each of your liquid investments is your primary focus.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.Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (BIP) is headquartered in Hamilton, and is in the Finance sector. The stock has seen a price change of 6.86% since the start of the year. The operator of utility, transportation and energy assets is currently shelling out a dividend of $0.43 per share, with a dividend yield of 5.06%. This compares to the REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry's yield of 4.72% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.52%.Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $1.72 is up 6.2% from last year. Over the last 5 years, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 6.08%. 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. Brookfield Infrastructure's current payout ratio is 54%, meaning it paid out 54% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.Looking at this fiscal year, BIP expects solid earnings growth. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 is $3.33 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 6.73%.From greatly improving stock investing profits and reducing overall portfolio risk to providing tax advantages, investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons. 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. During periods of rising interest rates, income investors must be mindful that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle. That said, they can take comfort from the fact that BIP is not only an attractive dividend play, but is also a compelling investment opportunity with a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).5 Stocks Set to DoubleEach was handpicked by a Zacks expert as the #1 favorite stock to gain +100% or more in the coming year. While not all picks can be winners, previous recommendations have soared +112%, +171%, +209% and +232%.Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar, which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor.Today, See These 5 Potential Home Runs >>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 Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP (BIP): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks