Shares and Dividends

27col

I have bought few shares recently. But when researching the companies that I might invest in, I am having trouble finding out what their past dividends and future dividend projections might be. Is there some link that I could look at that would enlighten me

cheerfulcat

You can find the info on Digitallook. Dividend history can also be found on the companies' own websites.

cashbackproblems

Company websites can sometimes be long, best place is www.iii.co.uk, search for the company and click on "fundamentals" then right at the bottom u'll get the dividend schdule of the past along with summary of finances (these can be 1yr out of date).

jon3001

This article may be of incidental interest:

Top 10 dividend paying shares for 2010
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/investing/article.html?in_article_id=497525&in_page_id=166&ct=5

27col

This is probably a silly question. But when it says that the dividend is, say, 4.9 %. What figure is it 4.9 % of.
I can understand it when the dividend is announced as, say13p. Presumably this is 13p per share.

jon3001

27col wrote: »

This is probably a silly question. But when it says that the dividend is, say, 4.9 %. What figure is it 4.9 % of.

I think it must be the dividend yield: the dividend as a percentage of the current share price.

sabretoothtigger

Dividends arent usually paid all at once and yield refers to what was true previously. Lloyds used to pay out 35pence per share and that would have shown as their yield for a long time even when the share price was 26p and the government had to help them not go bust.

They last paid out about 2% yield but apparently they now have no dividend and should show 0% though you might read different



Some companies are devoted to paying out a solid dividend but really you have to judge if they will able to do it. The dividend for Barclays costs them billions, so when they needed to money to keep running they just skipped paying it, you have no rights to get paid like a bond holder does

BP, Shell and Standard life are some of the biggest dividends I can think of that would actually most likely be paid. However Shell is actually borrowing money to afford this payment apparently, so again this doesnt seem that secure. A statisitc to check is dividend cover which I think shows how much profit they have to cover the div, anything less then 2 is slightly vulnerable.

Again this is retrospective and the share price always reflects future events so yield is not a good indicator


http://www.stockchallenge.co.uk/dividends.php

tradetime

Don't forget the LSE website (assuming it UK shares you are interested in) Lots of info there. Don't think they hold dividend history, though as people have said that can be found on the company website.
Example BAE Systems
http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/prices-and-news/stocks/exchange-insight/company-fundamentals.html?fourWayKey=GB0002634946GBGBXSET1

Biggles

27col wrote: »

This is probably a silly question. But when it says that the dividend is, say, 4.9 %. What figure is it 4.9 % of.
I can understand it when the dividend is announced as, say13p. Presumably this is 13p per share.

It is normally a % of the current share price, hence if a share is priced at 200p and the year's dividend is 13p, the 'yield' would be 6.5%. But bear in mind that if it's a forecast dividend, ie for next year, it is then shown as a 'prospective yield'.