Published on 7 May 2024 on Simply Wall St. via Yahoo Finance

Is It Smart To Buy LKQ Corporation (NASDAQ:LKQ) Before It Goes Ex-Dividend?

It looks like LKQ Corporation (NASDAQ:LKQ) is about to go ex-dividend in the next 4 days. The ex-dividend date is one business day before the record date, which is the cut-off date for shareholders to be present on the company's books to be eligible for a dividend payment. The ex-dividend date is of consequence because whenever a stock is bought or sold, the trade takes at least two business day to settle. Thus, you can purchase LKQ's shares before the 15th of May in order to receive the dividend, which the company will pay on the 30th of May.

The company's next dividend payment will be US$0.30 per share. Last year, in total, the company distributed US$1.20 to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, LKQ stock has a trailing yield of around 2.7% on the current share price of US$44.32. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. So we need to check whether the dividend payments are covered, and if earnings are growing.