Bank First (NASDAQ:BFC) declared a dividend payable on July 7, 2021 to its shareholders as of April 20, 2021. It was also announced that shareholders of Bank First's stock as of June 23, 2021 are entitled to the dividend. The stock is expected to become ex-dividend 1 business day(s) before the record date. The ex-dividend date for Bank First will be on June 22, 2021. The company's current dividend payout is at $0.21. That equates to a dividend yield of 1.2% at current price levels.

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, Bank First has seen its dividend payouts climb upward and its yields trend downward. Last year on June 22, 2020 the company's payout sat at $0.2, which has since increased by $0.01. Bank First's dividend yield last year was 1.57%, which has since decreased by 0.37%.
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.