How to Compare & Contrast in a Dividend History Report

A dividend history report shows the amount of dividend a company paid during its life. A dividend is a return to the investors on their investment in a company. Normally investors want companies to give large dividends. Companies typically try giving dividends uniformly from year to year. Therefore, an investor should compare and contrast different companies' dividend reports before making an investment. This is particularly useful if the investor wants high dividend income.

• 1

  Find the dividend history reports of the companies you wish to consider. They are normally in the company's investor relation page on their website.

• 2

  Look for the company's final dividends for the year. This is the amount the company paid in total per share for the year.

• 3

  Compare the dividend amounts from the report. One good way to make a quick comparison is to input the dividend histories of several companies into a spreadsheet program. This allows you to view the reports on one screen and use features such as sort to help you organize your data.

• 4

  Analyze the data to make inferences on the data. The higher the dividend a company historically pays, the more dividend income you are likely to make in a year. You should also check if there are any changes in the amounts of dividends the company issues over the years. For example, if the company increasing or decreasing their dividend amounts over the years, an increase in dividends shows the company is doing well and could be looking for new investors and may even be expanding. A decrease in dividends, on the other hand, could show potential poor recent financial results from the company. In order to make a complete analysis on why a company is increasing or decreasing its dividends, you need to research the company and look for the company's financial statements.

• 5

  Make a choice of a company to invest in. Since dividends are only one potential source of income from an investment, the other being an increase in stock price, investors only use a dividend history report as one tool to help make a choice of investment. You should perform a complete analysis of the company using information such as news releases, financial statement analyses and investor reports to make a proper choice of investment.