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What are dividends?

A dividend is a distribution of corporate profits to eligible shareholders, made out of the earnings during a period (year, half-year, or quarter). The following are the important dates you need to keep an eye on when it comes to dividends,

Declaration date

The declaration date is the date when a company announces the details about the dividends they are going to offer, which will also include the dates for Ex-dividend date, record date and payment date.

Ex-dividend date

Ex-dividend date marks the date when the company no longer owes dividends to a new buyer of the stock. To be eligible for the dividend payout, you will have to own the stock at least one day before the ex-dividend date. You will not be eligible for a dividend payout if you purchase the stock on the ex-dividend date.

Record date

The Record date is the date when the company identifies the list of its shareholders, i.e. the number of people who own the stock. To be eligible for a dividend payout, you will have to own the stock at least 2 days prior to the record date.

Payment date

The Payment date is the date when users will receive the dividend payment from the company. The dividend payout can be in the form of either a cash payout or a stock payout, depending on the company.

To give you an easier understanding about the pattern that these particular dates follow, please refer to the table below,

As in the example above, to be eligible for the dividend payout, you will have to purchase the stock by 1st, Tuesday at the latest which is 2 days before the record date and 1 day prior to the ex-dividend date.

Where can I find my dividends on Shares?

To check if you have received a dividend payout recently, you can navigate to the “Activity” section, and you will be able to see your dividend payout. If you would like to check the details, tap on the particular dividend activity, and it will include details such as Dividend per share, Applicable shares, withholding tax, and Total credit.

To check out what withholding tax is, click here: What is withholding tax?

You can find stocks that offer dividends on Shares through our Collection: “Dividend growth”. It can be found in the Collections section in the Explore screen.

How can I find if a company offers dividends?

To check if a particular company pays dividends, you can search for the particular stock by typing the name or symbol in the “Search” option and tap on it. Under “Key stats”, you will be able to find the “Div/Yield” section, which will display the percentage of dividend yield. Depending on the company, the dividend will be paid out periodically.