Looking at the universe of stocks we cover at Dividend Channel, on 7/31/14, Southern Company (NYSE: SO), Meridian Bioscience Inc. (NASD: VIVO), and KKR & Company LP (NYSE: KKR) will all trade ex-dividend for their respective upcoming dividends. Southern Company will pay its quarterly dividend of $0.525 on 9/6/14, Meridian Bioscience Inc. will pay its quarterly dividend of $0.20 on 8/14/14, and KKR & Company LP will pay its quarterly dividend of $0.67 on 8/19/14.
As a percentage of SO's recent stock price of $45.01, this dividend works out to approximately 1.17%, so look for shares of Southern Company to trade 1.17% lower — all else being equal — when SO shares open for trading on 7/31/14. Similarly, investors should look for VIVO to open 1.00% lower in price and for KKR to open 2.74% lower, all else being equal.
Below are dividend history charts for SO, VIVO, and KKR, showing historical dividends prior to the most recent ones declared.
Southern Company (NYSE: SO):
In general, dividends are not always predictable, following the ups and downs of company profits over time. Therefore, a good first due diligence step in forming an expectation of annual yield going forward, is looking at the history above, for a sense of stability over time. This can help in judging whether the most recent dividends from these companies are likely to continue. If they do continue, the current estimated yields on annualized basis would be 4.67% for Southern Company , 3.99% for Meridian Bioscience Inc., and 10.98% for KKR & Company LP.
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In Tuesday trading, Southern Company shares are currently off about 0.8%, Meridian Bioscience Inc. shares are trading flat, and KKR & Company LP shares are off about 0.1% on the day.
