Benzinga | Apr 5, 2021 10:16AM EDT

Ex-Dividend Date Insight: Quest Diagnostics

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) declared a dividend payable on April 21, 2021 to its shareholders as of February 4, 2021. It was also announced that shareholders of Quest Diagnostics's stock as of April 7, 2021 are entitled to the dividend. The stock is expected to become ex-dividend 1 business day(s) before the record date. Quest Diagnostics has an ex-dividend date set for for April 6, 2021. The company's current dividend payout is $0.62, which equates to a dividend yield of 1.95% at current price levels.

The Significance Of An Ex-Dividend Date

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.

Quest Diagnostics's Dividend History

Over the past year, Quest Diagnostics has experienced an overall upward trend regarding its dividend payouts and a downward trend regarding its yields. Last year on April 6, 2020 the company's payout was $0.56, which has since grown by $0.06. Quest Diagnostics's dividend yield last year was 2.02%, which has since decreased by 0.07%.

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.

Click here to find details on Quest Diagnostics's previous dividends.