Looking at the universe of stocks we cover at Dividend Channel, on 9/11/14, Investors Real Estate Trust (NYSE: IRET), BancorpSouth Inc. (NYSE: BXS), and RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: RNR) will all trade ex-dividend for their respective upcoming dividends. Investors Real Estate Trust will pay its quarterly dividend of $0.13 on 10/1/14, BancorpSouth Inc. will pay its quarterly dividend of $0.075 on 10/1/14, and RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. will pay its quarterly dividend of $0.29 on 9/30/14.
As a percentage of IRET's recent stock price of $8.46, this dividend works out to approximately 1.54%, so look for shares of Investors Real Estate Trust to trade 1.54% lower — all else being equal — when IRET shares open for trading on 9/11/14. Similarly, investors should look for BXS to open 0.36% lower in price and for RNR to open 0.29% lower, all else being equal.
Below are dividend history charts for IRET, BXS, and RNR, showing historical dividends prior to the most recent ones declared.
Investors Real Estate Trust (NYSE: IRET):
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 6.15% for Investors Real Estate Trust, 1.43% for BancorpSouth Inc., and 1.14% for RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd..
Special Offer: Join the income investing conversation on ValueForum.com with a special Seven Days for Seven Dollars invitation from Forbes.
In Tuesday trading, Investors Real Estate Trust shares are currently down about 0.3%, BancorpSouth Inc. shares are off about 1.9%, and RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. shares are down about 0.3% on the day.
