How to Get a Dividend Payment History

Receiving dividends is a way to earn passive income and build wealth. Dividends are paid to shareholders either in cash or as additional shares. Publicly traded companies make available all information pertinent to evaluating the stock of the company, including dividend payment histories. Dividend histories are easy to read and understand. They are especially useful when analyzing and deciding what stocks to buy. Find these histories on financial websites, such as Yahoo Finance.

• 1

  Open Yahoo Finance (see Resources).

• 2

  Enter the stocks ticker symbol in the "Get Quotes" box on the top part of the screen. This will take you directly to the stocks information page. A ticker symbol is a short abbreviation used to identify a company -- for example, KFT for Kraft Inc.

• 3

  Click the "Historical Prices" link on the left side of the screen. A list of prices dating back from the stock's original issue date up until the present day will appear.

• 4

  Modify the "Set Date Range" to dates that are relevant to you. Otherwise, the dividend payment history will show all dividends that were paid throughout the entire life of the stock.

• 5

  Select the "Dividends Only" box. This box is located toward the middle top portion of the screen.

• 6

  Click the "Get Prices" button. A complete list of all the dividends will appear. Each dividend will have a corresponding date on which it was paid out.