On May 25, 2021, ProAssurance (NYSE:PRA) declared a dividend payable on July 14, 2021 to its shareholders. ProAssurance also announced that shareholders on the company's books on or before June 29, 2021 are entitled to the dividend. The stock will then go ex-dividend 1 business day(s) before the record date. The ex-dividend date for ProAssurance will be on June 28, 2021. The company's current dividend payout is at $0.05. That equates to a dividend yield of 0.81% at current price levels.

An ex-dividend date is when a company's shares stop trading with its current dividend payout in preparation for the company to announce a new one. 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, ProAssurance has seen its dividend payouts remain the same and its yields trend downward. Last year on June 10, 2020 the company's payout sat at $0.05, which has returned to its value today. ProAssurance's dividend yield last year was 1.03%, which has since decreased by 0.22%.
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.