Dividends question

Squibbles_2

I am thinking of buying shares at the moment purely on long-term investment.

But want to know what these terms mean



Say if I buy £500 worth of shares, would that mean I get 500*13.05p back in dividends?

What does the yield mean?

turbobob

The dividend would amount quoted would be per share. Dividends are often split into more than one payment, check somewhere like https://www.digitallook.com for more info about the dividend on the particular share you are looking at.

Reaper

Remember the chances are those figures you are looking at are based on historical dividends - what dividends were paid over the last year compared to the current share price. That does not tell you if those yields are likely to continue.

So if I look at the list of high yields here it might give me the mistaken view that I will earn a 21.1% yield from Connaught, whereas in practice they are teetering over bankruptcy and no more dividends are likely for a long time even if they survive.

Analyst predicted yields over the next year are more useful but they are not as readily available (and may not be accurate even if they are!)