Why These Dividend Stocks Are Underperforming in 2025

3.Shutterstock, Inc. (NYSE:SSTK)

Dividend yield: 4.60%

Dividend payout ratio: 114.71%

Ex-Dividend Date: March 6, 2025

Number of Hedge Funds: 21

Shutterstock, Inc. (NYSE:SSTK), a U.S.-based provider of stock photography, stock footage, stock music, and editing tools, experienced a slight decline in its year-to-date return of 5.44% as of February 15, 2025. The broader market’s upward trend of 4.19% over the same period indicates the stock’s underperformance. The overall industry faces heightened competition alongside evolving customer demands, causing the decline in Shutterstock.

Through a six-year agreement, Shutterstock, Inc. (NYSE:SSTK) strengthened its partnership with OpenAI. As of July 2023, the company became the major provider of high-quality training data for OpenAI’s models, demonstrating its commitment to leveraging AI technologies in developing its platform. Aiming at sustainability, the company has announced a merger with Getty Images in January 2025. It claims that the resulting expansion in the stock photo libraries will provide better competition against AI-driven image creation tools.

The dividend yield of the company stands at 4.60%, with the highest payout ratio on our list, 114.71%. The payout ratio exceeds the technology sector average of 39.6%. The upcoming ex-dividend date is March 6, 2025. Twenty-one hedge funds held positions in Shutterstock, Inc. (NYSE:SSTK) in the third quarter of 2024, indicating a moderate interest in the stock.

Though the stock price suggested an underperformance, the strategic AI partnerships and the recent merger announcement might attract investors looking for stocks with future growth potential.