Why Community Trust Bancorp (CTBI) 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 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 make up large portions of long-term returns, and in many cases, dividend contributions surpass one-third of total returns.Community Trust Bancorp (CTBI) is headquartered in Pikeville, and is in the Finance sector. The stock has seen a price change of 5.77% since the start of the year. Currently paying a dividend of $0.47 per share, the company has a dividend yield of 3.35%. In comparison, the Banks - Southeast industry's yield is 2.34%, while the S&P 500's yield is 1.49%.Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $1.88 is up 1.1% from last year. Over the last 5 years, Community Trust Bancorp has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 5.32%. 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. Community Trust Bancorp's current payout ratio is 37%, meaning it paid out 37% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.CTBI is expecting earnings to expand this fiscal year as well. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 is $5.35 per share, with earnings expected to increase 16.05% from the year ago period.Investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons, from tax advantages and decreasing overall portfolio risk to considerably improving stock investing profits. It's important to keep in mind that not all companies provide a quarterly payout.For instance, it's a rare occurrence when a tech start-up or big growth business offers its shareholders a dividend. It's more common to see larger companies with more established profits give out dividends. 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 CTBI is not only an attractive dividend play, but is also a compelling investment opportunity with a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).#1 Semiconductor Stock to Buy (Not NVDA)The incredible demand for data is fueling the market's next digital gold rush. As data centers continue to be built and constantly upgraded, the companies that provide the hardware for these behemoths will become the NVIDIAs of tomorrow.One under-the-radar chipmaker is uniquely positioned to take advantage of the next growth stage of this market. It specializes in semiconductor products that titans like NVIDIA don't build. It's just beginning to enter the spotlight, which is exactly where you want to be.See This Stock Now for Free >>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 Community Trust Bancorp, Inc. (CTBI): 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