On December 17, 2020, Waterstone Financial (NASDAQ:WSBF) declared a dividend payable on February 2, 2021 to its shareholders. Waterstone Financial also announced that shareholders on the company's books on or before January 11, 2021 are entitled to the dividend. The stock will then go ex-dividend 1 business day(s) before the record date. Waterstone Financial, whose current dividend payout is $0.2, has an ex-dividend date set at January 8, 2021. The payout equates to a dividend yield of 4.39% 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, Waterstone Financial has experienced an overall upward trend regarding its dividend payouts and yields. Last year on April 8, 2020 the company's payout was $0.12, which has since grown by $0.08. Similarly, Waterstone Financial's dividend yield in last year was 3.76%, which has since grown by 0.63%.
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.