At present, prices of stocks are high relative to dividends, and interest rates have been moving up.
The argument for paying attention to dividends right now goes beyond yield.
Within its first year the capital was again increased to $1,000,000, and dividends of 10 per cent.
They have equal rights to dividends and to any other distributions by the company.
News of a return to dividends after no payment in 1990-91 sent the shares up 9 to 40p.
But companies take any number of different approaches to dividends, and their relationship to a company's worth is very inconsistent.
When it comes to dividends, the good news is almost always much greater than the bad news.
If current interest rates are low, there is far less of a discount applied to those earnings and dividends.
About $4.3 million will go to dividends, $3.6 million of it to the institute.
Increasing competition had led to falling dividends and by the 1850s the industry welcomed change.