You can find a company’s annual dividend payout in a few different ways:
- Annual report. The company’s last full annual report usually lists the annual dividend per share.
- Most recent dividend payout. If dividends are paid out quarterly, multiply the most recent quarterly dividend payout by four to get the annual dividend.
- “Trailing” dividend method. ...
- Figure out the net income of the company. ...
- Determine the number of shares outstanding. ...
- Divide net income by the number of shares outstanding. ...
- Determine the company's typical payout ratio. ...
- Multiply the payout ratio by the net income per share to get the dividend per share.
How to invest in dividend stocks for beginners?
... Terminology for Beginners on hand, there's no need for new investors to panic if they encounter an unknown term while researching a particular stock. Hamilton removes the guesswork from investing by explaining terms such as dividend and retained earnings.
What are the highest dividend paying stocks?
- Dividend yield greater than 3% (indicates high dividend payments),
- Dividend payout ratio less than 100% (indicates the Company isn’t paying more than 100% of its income in dividends),
- Marketcap over $200 million (more stable companies),
- EPS growth greater than 5% (continuing to grow operations),
What stocks pay dividends?
These high-yield, well-covered stocks are:
- China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (NYSE: SNP)
- Braskem (NYSE: BAK)
- Ternium (NYSE: TX)
- OneMain Holdings (NYSE: OMF)
- New York Community Bancorp (NYSE: NYCB)
- Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical (NYSE: SHI)
- Vector Group (NYSE: VGR)
How do you buy dividend paying stocks?
If you want dependable income, look no further than monthly dividend stocks
- Monthly Dividend Stocks: Realty Income (O)
- Stag Industrial (STAG)
- LTC Properties (LTC)
- EPR Properties (EPR)
- Vereit Series F Preferred Stock (VER-PF)
- Main Street Capital (MAIN)
- Prospect Capital (PSEC)
- Eaton Vance Limited Duration Income Fund (EVV)
- Cohen & Steers REIT and Preferred Income Fund, Inc. (RNP)

What are dividends?
Dividends are shares of a company’s earnings (i.e. profits) that are paid out to stockholders of that company on a regular basis (e.g. monthly, qua...
Why is dividend yield important?
The dividend yield is a way to estimate the dividend-only total return of a stock investment. For growth investors, regular dividends can be reinve...
What is the dividend yield formula?
Dividend yield is the amount of a company’s dividend expressed as a percentage. The formula is as follows: Dividend Yield = Annual Dividend / Curr...
What is DRIP?
A dividend reinvestment plan (i.e. DRIP) automatically reinvests the cash dividends an investor receives to purchase more stock in the company. The...
How do you calculate dividend payments that are reinvested?
Because reinvested dividends take the form of additional shares of stock, the formula is easy to calculate. The total value is equal to the stock p...
Where can I find dividend information?
Investors can also find dividend information on the Security and Exchange Commission's website, through specialty providers, and through the stock exchanges themselves.
Why are dividend stocks so attractive?
Dividend-paying stocks are attractive to investors because they distribute a portion of their earnings to shareholders in the form of cash payments or shares of stock. Investors can determine which stocks pay dividends by researching financial news sites, such as Investopedia's Markets Today page. Many stock brokerages offer their customers ...
What is dividend in accounting?
A dividend is a distribution of a portion of a company's earnings paid to its shareholders. Dividends can be issued as cash payments, as shares of stock, or other property.
What is a stock brokerage account?
Brokerage Accounts. Many individual stock brokerage accounts provide online research and pricing information to their customers. Similar to the news sites, investors can easily find information on dividend amounts and payout dates, as well as other types of peer comparisons and screeners.
Do I need to report dividends on 1099?
All publicly-traded companies are required by law to report on Form 1099 all dividends they have paid to investors during the previous tax year on a quarterly and annual basis. As a result, you can research these filings on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's website using their EDGAR system.
Can dividends be cash?
Dividends can be issued as cash payments, as shares of stock, or other property. There are several accessible sources to help investors identify dividend-paying stocks. Below we've listed a number of resources that can help you determine which stocks pay dividends.
What is dividend in stock?
What Is a Dividend? A dividend is a portion of a company’s profits that it distributes to shareholders. Dividends are paid out in addition to any gains in the value of the company’s shares and reward shareholders for holding a stock.
How often do companies pay dividends?
Companies might pay special, one-time dividends, or they may pay dividends at regular intervals, such as every quarter or once a year. One of the big advantages of preferred stock is that it dependably pays regular dividends, although common stock may also pay out regular dividends.
How to calculate dividend yield?
To calculate dividend yield, all you have to do is divide the annual dividends paid per share by the price per share. Dividend Yield = Annual Dividends Paid Per Share / Price Per Share. For example, if a company paid out $5 in dividends per share and its shares currently cost $150, its dividend yield would be 3.33%.
Why is absolute dividend a less helpful metric?
The absolute dividend amount you receive per share is a less helpful metric because companies have widely varying stock prices.
Do dividends fluctuate?
Companies generally pay out dividends based on the number of shares you own, not the value of shares you own, though. Because of this, dividend yields fluctuate based on current stock prices. Many stock research tools list recent dividend yields for you, but you can also calculate dividend yield yourself.
Why is it important to track dividends?
Dividends are a simple way for investors to watch their portfolio grow. But once you’ve selected the right dividend stocks for your portfolio, it’s important to track them. This will let you understand how they are performing right now and how they will perform in the future based on the variables you select.
Is the dividend calculator accurate?
It may go without saying, but the results of the calculator are only as good as the data that you provide. Therefore you should be as accurate as possible with the information you provide. If you’re not going to be adding money to the account, don’t say you are.
How to calculate dividends?
To calculate dividends, find out the company's dividend per share (DPS), which is the amount paid to every investor for each share of stock they hold. Next, multiply the DPS by the number of shares you hold in the company's stock to determine approximately what you're total payout will be.
How to find out how many shares of stock you own?
If you're not already aware of how many shares of company stock you own, find out. You can usually get this information by contacting your broker or investment agency or checking the regular statements that are usually sent to a company's investors via mail or email.
What is dividend yield?
The dividend yield is the percentage of your investment that a stock will pay you back in the form of dividends. Dividend yield can be thought of as an "interest rate" on a stock. To get started, you'll need to find the current price per share of the stock you're analyzing.
What does it mean when a stock price falls?
Price movements reflect supply and demand. If a stock's price falls, that indicates the buying public is simply not as interested in acquiring shares of that stock as it used to be, or the drop may occur after the company has issued more shares.
How many people edit wikihow?
wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 14 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has been viewed 919,312 times.
How many references are there in WikiHow?
To create this article, 14 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.
Is $20 per share better than $100?
While they may at first seem to be equally good investment opportunities, if one company’s stock is trading at $20 per share and the other’s is trading at $100 per share, the company with the $20 share price is the better deal ( all other factors being equal).
How to calculate dividends?
To calculate dividends for a given year, do the following: 1 Take the retained earnings at the beginning of the year and subtract it from the the end-of-year number. That will tell you the net change in retained earnings for the year. 2 Next, take the net change in retained earnings, and subtract it from the net earnings for the year. If retained earnings has gone up, then the result will be less than the year's net earnings. If retained earnings have fallen, then the result will be greater than the net earnings for the year.
Why do companies calculate dividends?
One of the most useful reasons to calculate a company's total dividend is to then determine the dividend payout ratio, or DPR. This measures the percentage of a company's net income that is paid out in dividends. This is useful in measuring a company's ability to keep paying or even increasing a dividend.
How to calculate dividends from balance sheet?
To calculate dividends for a given year, do the following: Take the retained earnings at the beginning of the year and subtract it from the the end-of-year number. That will tell you the net change in retained earnings for the year . Next, take the net change in retained ...
What happens if retained earnings fall?
If retained earnings have fallen, then the result will be greater than the net earnings for the year. The answer represents the total amount of dividends paid. For example, say a company earned $100 million in a given year. It started with $50 million in retained earnings and ended the year with $70 million.
What is retained earnings?
Retained earnings are the total earnings a company has earned in its history that hasn't been returned to shareholders through dividends.
Do companies report dividends?
Most companies report their dividends on a cash flow statement, in a separate accounting summary in their regular disclosures to investors, or in a stand-alone press release, but that's not always the case.
Is dividend per share accurate?
Using this method to calculate dividends per share may not be 100% accurate , because a company may increase or lower its dividends (they're usually paid quarterly) over the course of the year, and may also issue or repurchase shares, changing the share count.
Price Gains and Dividends
When you own stock, profits can be earned from either an increasing share price, the receipt of dividends or a combination of the two. Stock shares are shares of ownership in a company. The company can share profits with shareholders in the form of dividend payments.
Dividend Amounts
For those companies that do pay dividends, the common practice for U.S. companies is to pay a dividend every quarter -- four times a year. The total of the four quarterly payments is the annual dividend amount.
Variability of Dividends
The dividend rate paid by a stock can change at any time. Some companies have a history of paying steady dividends for many years. Some of these companies have also increased the dividend rate every year for many years, enriching shareholders over time.
Stock Earnings Considerations
The return from your shares of stock will be a combination of share price gain or loss and the dividends you earn. Stocks that pay a high dividend rate tend to pay out most of the company profits in the form of dividends. The share price of these stocks tend to increase at a slow pace.
What is dividends?
Dividends are an integral part of your total return; Make sure you know how to get the right info and understand the dividend lingo. Reuben Gregg Brewer believes dividends are a window into a company's soul. He tries to invest in good souls. According to S&P Dow Jones Indices research, dividends made up around one third of the total return ...
When to use dividend dates?
You can also use dividend dates in a broad sense if you want to spread your distributions out, owning a portfolio of companies that ensures a payment occurs every month. Long-term investors, however, will probably want to pay attention to the timing of annual dividend hikes.
What is the first date of a dividend?
The first date is the Announcement Date, which is when the company tells the world that it's going to pay a dividend. Next up is the Record Date (or Date of Record), which is the date the company uses to determine who is a shareholder and, thus, has a right to the dividend. The third date to consider is the Payment Date -- which is ...
How long does it take to get a stock to show up on a record?
It takes a couple of days for a stock trade to be fully processed and for you to show up on a company's records. Thus, you'll need to execute a trade about two days before a Record Date to make the list.
Is dividends simple?
However, you'll quickly see that finding this information is only half the battle. In fact, dividends aren't nearly as simple as they first appear. First things first. Perhaps the most important thing about dividends is yield.
Do European companies pay dividends?
There's also an increasing number of companies that pay dividends monthly.

Financial News Sites and Apps
Brokerage Accounts
- Many individual stock brokerage accounts provide online research and pricing information to their customers. Similar to the news sites, investors can easily find information on dividend amounts and payout dates, as well as other types of peer comparisons and screeners. An additional benefit for users of online accounts provided by a broker is the ability to tie into any current (or past) hol…
Securities and Exchange Commission
- All publicly-traded companies are required by law to report on Form 1099 all dividends they have paid to investors during the previous tax year on a quarterly and annual basis.1 As a result, you can research these filings on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's website using their EDGAR system. You can also quickly research a company’s financial information and operation…
Specialty Providers
- There are a number of dividend-focused specialty resources available online for getting comprehensive information on dividends. Some of these sites are free, some have paid subscription content, and some have a combination of free and paid content. With these specialty providers, you might have access to a calendar of upcoming ex-dividend dates, as well as scree…
The Stock Exchanges
- Tools and resources are also provided from the stock exchanges themselves to keep investors up-to-date with dividend data for the companies they list. The NASDAQ provides a dividend calendar, history tool, and screeners on the highest-yielding stocks.4 Meanwhile, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) provides a historical database to research ex-divid...