Looking at the universe of stocks we cover at Dividend Channel, on 10/23/14, Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY), Northwest Bancshares, Inc. (NASD: NWBI), and Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX) will all trade ex-dividend for their respective upcoming dividends. Royal Bank of Canada will pay its quarterly dividend of $0.75 on 11/24/14, Northwest Bancshares, Inc. will pay its quarterly dividend of $0.13 on 11/10/14, and Blackstone Group LP will pay its quarterly dividend of $0.44 on 11/3/14.
As a percentage of RY's recent stock price of $71.01, this dividend works out to approximately 1.06%, so look for shares of Royal Bank of Canada to trade 1.06% lower — all else being equal — when RY shares open for trading on 10/23/14. Similarly, investors should look for NWBI to open 1.06% lower in price and for BX to open 1.47% lower, all else being equal.
Below are dividend history charts for RY, NWBI, and BX, showing historical dividends prior to the most recent ones declared.
Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY):
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 4.22% for Royal Bank of Canada, 4.24% for Northwest Bancshares, Inc. , and 5.89% for Blackstone Group LP.
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In Tuesday trading, Royal Bank of Canada shares are currently up about 1.1%, Northwest Bancshares, Inc. shares are up about 0.9%, and Blackstone Group LP shares are up about 1.7% on the day.
