This high-paying dividend stock is still down over 40% from its highs
New Residential Investment Corp. (NYSE:NRZ) is a real estate investment company headquartered in New York City. The corporation focuses on managing and investing in residential mortgage related assets. They also provides capital and services to the mortgage and financial services industries.
Last month, NRZ announced its fourth quarter 2020 common stock dividends. The board declared a quarterly dividend of $0.20 per share of common stock for the fourth quarter of 2020, representing an increase of 33% from its previous quarter’s common share dividend. This increase also brings New Residential Investment's forward dividend up to $0.80 and its dividend yield up to an outstanding 8.51%.
The company has paid dividends since 2013, but had cut its dividend in April of 2020 from $0.50 per share to $0.05 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. New Residential Investment has since raised its dividend every quarter by increments of $0.05.
It's been a rough 12 months for NRZ stock though. Sporting a 43% year-over-year deficit, the shares' slow climb out of its April 3 record lows has been recently stymied by their 320-day moving average.
New Residential Investment has beat Wall Street's expectations for earnings in three of its last four earnings reports. While earnings per share (EPS) reported shrank from $0.61 per share for the fourth quarter of 2019 down to $0.31 per share for the third quarter of 2020, NRZ outperformed expectations throughout the last 12 months.
Overall, NRZ maintains its position as one of the most secure high-paying dividend stocks which is what attracts so much attention from the retail sector. The company quickly resumed its dividend growth following the COVID-19 blow it took, and is likely to continue doing so based on its fundamentals. Some of the most concerning aspects of investing long-term in NRZ are the company's large debt amount and the substantial revenue hit New Residential Investment took in 2020.