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Dividends
A dividend is a distribution of profits by a corporation to its shareholders, after which the stock exchange decreases the price of the stock by the dividend to remove volatility. The market has no control over the stock price on open on the ex-dividend date, though more often than not it may open higher. When a corporation earns a profit or surplus, it is able to pay a portion of the profit as a dividend to shareholders. Any amount not distributed is taken to be re-invested in the business (called retained earnings). The current year profit as well as the retained earnings of previous years are available for distribution; a corporation is usually prohibited from paying a dividend out of its capital. Distribution to shareholders may be in cash (usually by bank transfer) or, if the corporation has a dividend reinvestment plan, the amount can be paid by the issue of further shares or by share repurchase. In some cases, the distribution may be of assets. The dividend received by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dividend Tax
A dividend tax is a tax imposed by a jurisdiction on dividends paid by a corporation to its shareholders (stockholders). The primary tax liability is that of the shareholder, though a tax obligation may also be imposed on the corporation in the form of a withholding tax. In some cases the withholding tax may be the extent of the tax liability in relation to the dividend. A dividend tax is in addition to any tax imposed directly on the corporation on its profits. Some jurisdictions do not tax dividends. To avoid a dividend tax being levied, a corporation may distribute surplus funds to shareholders by way of a share buy-back. These, however, are normally treated as capital gains, but may offer tax benefits when the tax rate on capital gains is lower than the tax rate on dividends. Another potential strategy is for a corporation not to distribute surplus funds to shareholders, who benefit from an increase in the value of their shareholding. These may also be subject to capital gain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ex-dividend Date
The ex-dividend date (coinciding with the reinvestment date for shares held subject to a dividend reinvestment plan) is an investment term involving the timing of payment of dividends on stocks of corporation A corporation or body corporate is an individual or a group of people, such as an association or company, that has been authorized by the State (polity), state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law as ...s, income trusts, and other financial holdings, both publicly and privately held. The ex-date or ex-dividend date represents the date on or after which a security is traded without a previously declared dividend or distribution. The opening price on the ex-dividend date, in comparison to the previous closing price, can be expected to decrease by the amount of the dividend, although this change may be obscured by other influences on the stock's value. A person purchasing a stock before its ex-dividend date, and holding th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miles V Sydney Meat-Preserving Co Ltd
''Miles v Sydney Meat-Preserving Co Ltd'' was a 1912 decision of the High Court of Australia regarding directors' duties and shareholder primacy. Businessman William John Miles sued the company, of which he was a major shareholder, for its failure to pay out dividends. The court found by a 2–1 majority that there was no fiduciary duty of the board of directors to maximise shareholder value. Background The Sydney Meat-Preserving Company (Limited) was established in 1871 by a private act of the parliament of New South Wales, for the purposes of "carrying on the business of meat preserving and disposing of and exporting the products". The operations of the company were governed by a deed of settlement which provided that a dividend should be paid to shareholders from the "clear bona fide net profits" of the company, although the board of directors could in its discretion set aside profits as retained earnings.. A majority of the shareholders of the company were graziers, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Earnings Per Share
Earnings per share (EPS) is the monetary value of earnings per outstanding share of common stock for a company during a defined accounting period, period of time, often a year. It is a key measure of corporate profitability, focusing on the interests of the company's owners (shareholders),Drake, P. P., Financial ratio analysis, p. 11, published on 15 December 2012 and is commonly used to price stocks. In the United States, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) requires EPS information for the four major categories of the income statement: continuing operations, discontinued operations, extraordinary items, and net income. Calculation Preferred stock rights have precedence over common stock. Therefore, dividends on preferred shares are subtracted before calculating the EPS. When preferred shares are cumulative (i.e. dividends accumulate as payable if unpaid in the given accounting year), annual dividends are deducted whether or not they have been declared. Dividends in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Free Cash Flow
In financial accounting, free cash flow (FCF) or free cash flow to firm (FCFF) is the amount by which a business's operating cash flow exceeds its working capital needs and expenditures on fixed assets (known as capital expenditures). It is that portion of cash flow that can be extracted from a company and distributed to creditors and securities holders without causing issues in its operations. As such, it is an indicator of a company's financial flexibility and is of interest to holders of the company's Share capital, equity, debt, preferred stock and convertible security, convertible securities, as well as potential lenders and investors. Free cash flow can be calculated in various ways, depending on audience and available data. A common measure is to take the earnings before interest and taxes, add depreciation and amortization (business), amortization, and then subtract taxes, changes in working capital and capital expenditure. Depending on the audience, a number of refinement ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Special Dividend
A special dividend is a payment made by a company to its shareholders, that the company declares to be separate from the typical recurring dividend cycle, if any, for the company. Usually when a company raises the amount of its normal dividend, the investor expectation is that this marks a sustained increase. In the case of a special dividend, however, the company is signalling that this is a one-off payment. Therefore, special dividends do not markedly affect valuation or yield calculations, unless the amount is large—in which case they ''do'' markedly affect valuation as they are a direct and large depletion of the assets of the company. Typically, special dividends are distributed if a company has exceptionally strong earnings that it wishes to distribute to shareholders, or if it is making changes to its financial structure, such as debt ratio. A prominent example of a special dividend was the $3 dividend announced by Microsoft in 2004, to partially relieve its balanc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cooperative
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomy, autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-controlled wikt:Enterprise, enterprise". Cooperatives are democratically controlled by their members, with each member having one vote in electing the board of directors. They differ from Collective farming, collectives in that they are generally built from the bottom-up, rather than the top-down. Cooperatives may include: * Worker cooperatives: businesses owned and managed by the people who work there * Consumer cooperatives: businesses owned and managed by the people who consume goods and/or services provided by the cooperative * Producer cooperatives: businesses where producers pool their output for their common benefit ** e.g. Agricultural cooperatives * Purchasing cooperatives where members pool their purchasing power ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dividend Reinvestment Plan
A dividend reinvestment program or dividend reinvestment plan (DRIP) is an equity investment option offered directly from the underlying company. The investor does not receive dividends directly as cash; instead, the investor's dividends are directly reinvested in the underlying equity. The investor must still pay tax annually on his or her dividend income, whether it is received as cash or reinvested. DRIPs allow the investment return from dividends to be immediately invested for the purpose of price appreciation and compounding, without incurring brokerage fees or waiting to accumulate enough cash for a full share of stock. Some DRIPs are free of charge for participants, while others do charge fees and/or proportional commissions. Similarly income trusts and closed-end funds, which are numerous in Canada, can offer a distribution reinvestment plan and a unit purchase plan which operate principally the same as other plans. Because DRIPs, by their nature, encourage long-term ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Retained Earnings
The retained earnings (also known as plowback) of a corporation is the accumulated net income of the corporation that is retained by the corporation at a particular point in time, such as at the end of the reporting period. At the end of that period, the net income (or net loss) at that point is transferred from the Profit and Loss Account to the retained earnings account. If the balance of the retained earnings account is negative it may be called accumulated losses, retained losses, accumulated deficit, or similar terminology. Any part of a credit balance in the account can be capitalised, by the issue of bonus shares, and the balance is available for distribution of dividends to shareholders, and the residue is carried forward into the next period. Some laws, including those of most states in the United States require that dividends be only paid out of the positive balance of the retained earnings account at the time that payment is to be made. This protects creditors from a c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Income Statement
An income statement or profit and loss accountProfessional English in Use - Finance, Cambridge University Press, p. 10 (also referred to as a ''profit and loss statement'' (P&L), ''statement of profit or loss'', ''revenue statement'', ''statement of financial performance'', ''earnings statement'', ''statement of earnings'', ''operating statement'', or ''statement of operations'') is one of the financial statements of a company and shows the company's revenues and expenses during a particular period. It indicates how the revenues (also known as the ''“top line”'') are transformed into the net income or net profit (the result after all revenues and expenses have been accounted for). The purpose of the income statement is to show managers and investors whether the company made money (profit) or lost money (loss) during the period being reported. An income statement represents a period of time (as does the cash flow statement). This contrasts with the balance sheet, which represe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liability (financial Accounting)
In financial accounting, a liability is a quantity of value that a financial entity owes. More technically, it is value that an entity is expected to deliver in the future to satisfy a present obligation arising from past events. The value delivered to settle a liability may be in the form of assets transferred or services performed. Characteristics A liability is defined by the following characteristics: * Any type of borrowing from persons or banks for improving a business or personal income that is payable during short or long time; * A duty or responsibility to others that entails settlement by future transfer or use of assets, provision of services, or other transaction yielding an economic benefit, at a specified or determinable date, on occurrence of a specified event, or on demand; * A duty or responsibility that obligates the entity to another, leaving it little or no discretion to avoid settlement; and, * A transaction or event obligating the entity that has already occ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Public Company
A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of share capital, stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter (finance), over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange (listing (finance), listed company), which facilitates the trade of shares, or not (unlisted public company). In some jurisdictions, public companies over a certain size must be listed on an exchange. In most cases, public companies are ''private'' enterprises in the ''private'' sector, and "public" emphasizes their reporting and trading on the public markets. Public companies are formed within the legal systems of particular states and so have associations and formal designations, which are distinct and separate in the polity in which they reside. In the United States, for example, a public company is usually a type of corporation, though a corporation need not be a public company. In the United Kin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
