Looking at the universe of stocks we cover at Dividend Channel, on 2/13/15, Assured Guaranty Ltd (NYSE: AGO), Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE: HIW), and Applied Materials, Inc. (NASD: AMAT) will all trade ex-dividend for their respective upcoming dividends. Assured Guaranty Ltd will pay its quarterly dividend of $0.12 on 3/4/15, Highwoods Properties, Inc. will pay its quarterly dividend of $0.425 on 3/10/15, and Applied Materials, Inc. will pay its quarterly dividend of $0.10 on 3/11/15.
As a percentage of AGO's recent stock price of $25.61, this dividend works out to approximately 0.47%, so look for shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd to trade 0.47% lower — all else being equal — when AGO shares open for trading on 2/13/15. Similarly, investors should look for HIW to open 0.91% lower in price and for AMAT to open 0.41% lower, all else being equal.
Below are dividend history charts for AGO, HIW, and AMAT, showing historical dividends prior to the most recent ones declared.
Assured Guaranty Ltd (NYSE: AGO):
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 1.87% for Assured Guaranty Ltd, 3.62% for Highwoods Properties, Inc., and 1.65% for Applied Materials, Inc..
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In Wednesday trading, Assured Guaranty Ltd shares are currently up about 0.5%, Highwoods Properties, Inc. shares are up about 1.3%, and Applied Materials, Inc. shares are off about 0.1% on the day.
