Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it’s exciting to see United Parcel Service, Inc. is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 4 days. The ex-dividend date occurs one day before the record date which is the day on which shareholders need to be on the company’s books in order to receive a dividend. The ex-dividend date is important because any transaction on a stock needs to have been settled before the record date in order to be eligible for a dividend. Meaning, you will need to purchase United Parcel Service’s shares before the 19th of November to receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 8th of December.
The company’s next dividend payment will be US $1.02 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of US$4.08 to shareholders. Calculating the last year’s worth of payments shows that United Parcel Service has a trailing yield of 1.9% on the current share price of $213.19. Dividends are a major contributor to investment returns for long term holders, but only if the dividend continues to be paid. We need to see whether the dividend is covered by earnings and if it’s growing.
