On January 20, 2021, Flaherty & Crumrine (NYSE:DFP) announced shareholders can expect to receive a dividend payable on April 30, 2021. The stock will then go ex-dividend 1 business day(s) before the record date. The ex-dividend date for Flaherty & Crumrine will be on April 22, 2021. The company's current dividend payout is at $0.17. That equates to a dividend yield of 6.85% at current price levels.

Ex-dividend dates signal when company shares cease to trade with their current dividend payouts. There is a small intermission period before companies announce new dividends. Usually, a company's ex-dividend date falls one business day before its record date. Investors should keep this in mind when purchasing stocks because buying them on or after ex-dividend dates does not qualify them to receive the declared payment. Newly declared dividends go to shareholders who have owned that stock before the ex-dividend date. Typically, companies will announce and implement new dividend yields on a quarterly basis.

Over the past year, Flaherty & Crumrine has seen its dividend payouts remain the same and its yields trend downward. Last year on December 22, 2020 the company's payout sat at $0.17, which has returned to its value today. Flaherty & Crumrine's dividend yield last year was 6.95%, which has since decreased by 0.1%.
Companies use dividend yields in different strategic ways. Some companies may opt to not give yields altogether to reinvest in themselves. Other companies may opt to increase or decrease their yield amounts to control how their shares circulate throughout the stock market.