Today we'll find out how to verify the history of dividend payments for a particular company. As I have mentioned in my presentations, the best way to find out if the company management is committed to shareholders is by the consistent increase of the dividend over time. Let's get started with how to verify if a company is well managed and cares about it's shareholders.
Using Yahoo!Finance as our starting point we first need to select the company that we're interested in. In the image below, I have selected Mine Safety Appliances (MSA). In the left hand column select the section that says HISTORICAL PRICES. (click on image)
Next, select the tab that says DIVIDENDS ONLY. This is where you'll be able to actually see all the dividend history for the stock that you're interested in. (click image below)
Next, look to see if the company that you have selected has a history of increasing its dividend either every year or every other year. At the very least, companies that haven't cut their dividend, even during tough economic times, are probably better suited to stay profitable or recover faster when the economy turns around. (click on image below)
Finally, in order to be sure that this information is accurate you now have to find at least one other source to confirm the information that is on Yahoo!Finance. I like to get my other source information from Morningstar.com, MergentOnline, or Valueline.com. If you only use one source for your information you might not find out that there is a mistake until it is too late.
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