Taking a look at the company's dividend growth, its current annualized dividend of $0.92 is up 4.5% from last year. Union Bankshares has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis over the last 5 years for an average annual increase of 10.28%. 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. Union Bankshares's current payout ratio is 33%, meaning it paid out 33% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend. Looking at this fiscal year, UBSH expects solid earnings growth. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 is $2.84 per share, with earnings expected to increase 4.80% 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.