

When companies pay out most of their earnings asĭividends, they tend to trade at a much higher yield (as a general rule), and an interesting ''discipline'' is also Types that must pay out almost all of their earnings to shareholders. There are also certain types of companies that pay out nearly all of their earnings as dividends, either by choice orīy charter - Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and Business Development Companies (BDCs) are two examples of company A company paying only a small portion of its earnings out as dividends can presumably survive more of aĮconomic ''rough patch'' and continue to pay the same dividend even if earnings come down somewhat but on the flip side,Ĭompanies with a lower payout ratio tend to trade at a much lower yield (as a general rule). Recurring basis, some annually, some twice a year, some quarterly, and there are even a whole list of monthly dividend payers that put cash into your pocket each and every month.Īnother key consideration about dividends is the payout ratio, or how much of the company's profit is used up in making theirĭividend payments. Many companies pay dividends on a regular

That investors get their return the old fashioned way, being paid cold hard cash. Return from the stock market came from its dividend history, and the other one quarter (25%) from capital gains.Ī key consideration about dividends ( by the way, what is a dividend anyways?) is Jeremy Siegel at The Wharton School, until the early 1990's, roughly three quarters (about 75%) of the real This is a more ''modern'' example, but the same pattern holds for earlier dividend history as well: according to Professor You gained $2.44 on the price of the shares, and collected $20.53 in cash along the way, for a total return (beforeįactoring in taxes) of $22.97 - so approximately 89% of your total return came from the dividend history, and the otherġ1% of your total return came from your capital gain. Than you paid, for a paltry 2% gain over a period of 12 years.Īh, but what about the dividend history over that same period? You may be surprised to learn that youĬollected a whopping $20.53 per share in dividends over the same period, increasing your return to 18.6%. Fast forward to and each share was worth $125.75 on that date, just $2.44 higher Here's an interesting fact: if you invested in the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) on, you would Gain access to weekly reports featuring our proprietary DividendRank lists broken down by the top ranked stocks in each
