Looking at the universe of stocks we cover at Dividend Channel, on 5/16/14, MSA Safety Inc (NYSE: MSA), Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE: ALK), and DryShips Inc (NASD: DRYS) will all trade ex-dividend for their respective upcoming dividends. MSA Safety Inc will pay its quarterly dividend of $0.31 on 6/10/14, Alaska Air Group, Inc. will pay its quarterly dividend of $0.25 on 6/4/14, and DryShips Inc will pay its quarterly dividend of $0.19 on 5/30/14.
As a percentage of MSA's recent stock price of $54.12, this dividend works out to approximately 0.57%, so look for shares of MSA Safety Inc to trade 0.57% lower — all else being equal — when MSA shares open for trading on 5/16/14. Similarly, investors should look for ALK to open 0.26% lower in price and for DRYS to open 6.17% lower, all else being equal.
Below are dividend history charts for MSA, ALK, and DRYS, showing historical dividends prior to the most recent ones declared.
MSA Safety Inc (NYSE: MSA):
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 2.29% for MSA Safety Inc, 1.03% for Alaska Air Group, Inc., and 24.68% for DryShips Inc.
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In Wednesday trading, MSA Safety Inc shares are currently up about 0.2%, Alaska Air Group, Inc. shares are down about 0.8%, and DryShips Inc shares are trading flat on the day.
