An ex-dividend date signals when a company's shares cease to trade with its current dividend payout. There is a small intermission period before the company announces a new dividend. 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. Most ex-dividend dates operate on a quarterly basis.

Over the past year, Benchmark Electronics has experienced an overall upward trend regarding its dividend payouts and yields. Last year on December 27, 2019 the company's payout was $0.15, which has since grown by $0.01. Similarly, Benchmark Electronics's dividend yield in last year was 1.72%, which has since grown by 0.8%.
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.