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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To cut your risk, we recommend investors stick with integrated oil producers like Suncor as its refineries benefit from lower crude prices. The company is also improving its efficiency and cutting its operating costs, which will help it avoid trimming its dividend when oil prices decline.
ALIMENTATION COUCHE-TARD, $73.90, is a buy. This retailer (Toronto symbol ATD; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (couchetard.com; Shares o/s: 940.6 million; Market cap: $70.4 billion; Yield: 1.1%) has announced it is teaming up with chef, restaurateur, and Emmy Award-winning host Guy Fieri on a new fresh food collaboration.
Due to the slowing housing market, the trust is now selling the 50% stake in four residential properties it owns through a joint venture for $197.3 million. It aims to sell its remaining residential properties over the next two years. That will let it focus on its main retail properties.
In its fiscal 2026 first quarter, ended June 30, 2025, Peller’s sales fell 0.3%, to $99.2 million from $99.5 million a year earlier. Higher sales in Western Canada offset lower sales at its standalone retail stores in Ontario due to the availability of wines at supermarkets and other stores.
Algonquin also sold its non-regulated renewable energybusiness to LS Power in January 2025 for up to $2.5 billion.
MANULIFE FINANCIAL, $43.85, is a buy. This safety-conscious stock (Toronto symbol MFC; Shares outstanding: 1.7 billion; Market cap: $74.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.0%; www.manulife.ca) represents one of Canada’s largest life insurers. It’s also a leading insurer in Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, and the Philippines. On June 30, 2025, the insurer had $1.6 trillion in assets under administration.
The company’s revenue in the quarter ended June 30, 2025, increased 21.4%, to $15.64 billion from $12.88 billion, on significantly higher investment income. Earnings decreased by 0.6%, to $1.726 billion from $1.737 billion a year earlier. However, per-share earnings gained 4.4%, to $0.95 from $0.91, on fewer shares outstanding. Excluding currency rates, earnings rose 2%.
The company last raised your quarterly dividend by 66.7% in December 2019. The annual rate of $0.50 a share yields 1.7%.