Dividends can produce as much as a third of your total return over long periods, and you can even retire on dividends.
There are 4 key stock dividend dates that are involved with dividend payments:
1- The Declaration Date is several weeks in advance of a dividend payment—it’s when company’s board of directors sets the amount and timing of the proposed payment.
2- The Payable Date is the date set by the board on which the dividend will actually be paid out to shareholders.
3- The Record Date is for shareholders who hold the stock before the payable date and receive the dividend payment. That date is set any number of weeks before the payable date.
4-The Ex-Dividend Date is two business days before the record date and it’s when the shares begin to trade without their dividend. If you buy stocks one day or more before their ex-dividend date, you will still get the dividend. That’s when a stock is said to trade cum-dividend. If you buy on the ex-dividend date or later, you won’t get the dividend. The ex-dividend date is in place to allow pending stock trades to settle.
We think very highly of stocks that have been paying dividends for five or more years, at TSI Network. Many of these stocks fit in well with our three-part Successful Investor philosophy:
1- Invest mainly in well-established companies;
2- Spread your money out across most if not all of the five main economic sectors (Manufacturing & Industry; Resources & Commodities; Consumer; Finance; and Utilities);
3- Downplay or avoid stocks in the broker/media limelight.
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You can’t fake a record of dividends. That’s why we place a high value on a sustained history of dividend payments. When you’re looking for income-producing stocks, a high dividend yield should also be one of your most important investment considerations. But that shouldn’t come at the expense of sustainability.
Our exclusive TSI Dividend Sustainability Rating System uses eight factors to determine a company’s ability to maintain its current dividend, and increase the payment over time.
WALMART INC. $118 is a buy. The company (Nasdaq symbol WMT; Conservative Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 8.0 billion; Market cap: $944.0 billion; Dividend yield: 0.8%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Highest; www.walmart.com) is the world’s largest retailer, with 11,000 outlets in 19 countries.
In addition to dividend hikes, Suncor is increasing its monthly share buyback target to $750 million from $500 million.
In April 2026, the company sold its CAM (Consolidated Aerospace Manufacturing) business for $1.8 billion. As a result of that sale,the toolmaker’s sales in the quarter ended July 4, 2026, rose just 0.4%, to $3.96 billion from $3.95 billion a year earlier.
GENUINE PARTS CO. $125 is a buy. The company (New York symbol GPC; Income-Growth Payer Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 139.1 million; Market cap: $17.4 billion; Dividend yield: 3.4%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Above Average; www.genpt.com) has over 10,850 company-owned and independent auto parts stores in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
Still, a high yield often indicates a fallen share price and signals that the current dividend is unsustainable for a number of reasons. Those risks often include slowing earnings growth, an unusually high debt load (with rising interest costs), and deteriorating industry conditions.
CALIAN GROUP LTD. $85 is a buy. The company (Toronto symbol CGY; High-Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 11.5 million; Market cap: $977.5 million; Dividend yield: 1.3%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Above Average; www.calian.com) provides business services to the healthcare, defence, security, aerospace, engineering, agriculture and technology industries.