How to Find Stocks That Pay Dividends? (Beginner’s Investor Guide)
Last Updated on 4 weeks ago by Antony C.
Finding stocks that pay dividends is actually quite easy today. Most investing websites and brokerage apps already show you which companies pay dividends.
The important part is knowing where to look and what information to check.
Here are the simple ways I personally use to find dividend-paying stocks.
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1. Use a Stock Screener
One of the easiest ways to find stocks that pay dividends is to use a stock screener.
A stock screener is basically a filter. Instead of checking hundreds of companies one by one, you tell the screener what you are looking for and it gives you a shorter list.
For dividend stocks, you may be able to filter by things such as:
- Dividend yield
- Market or stock exchange
- Industry
- Company size
- Dividend-paying stocks
For example, if I am looking for Singapore dividend stocks, I can narrow the search to Singapore-listed companies and look at those currently showing a dividend yield.
Websites such as Yahoo Finance have stock-screening tools that can make this much quicker.
But there is one important thing to remember:
A stock screener helps me find dividend stocks. It does not tell me whether they are good dividend stocks.
A high dividend yield can look attractive, but sometimes the yield is high because the share price has fallen sharply. I would always do more research before investing.
2. Check Your Brokerage App
Another easy place to find dividend stocks is your brokerage app.
Most modern brokerage platforms already include quite a lot of company information on each stock page.
Depending on the platform, you may find:
- Dividend yield
- Past dividend payments
- Dividend history
- Ex-dividend dates
- Company financial information
- Stock-screening tools
Since I am already using my brokerage app when researching stocks, this is often the quickest place for me to do an initial check.
For example, I personally use platforms such as Moomoo and Longbridge, and both make it relatively easy to look through stock information while researching.
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That said, I would not rely on a brokerage app alone.
The information shown by third-party platforms can sometimes be delayed, calculated differently, or simply not reflect the latest company announcement yet.
If the dividend matters to my decision, I prefer to verify it from an official source.
3. Check the Company’s Investor Relations Page
Almost every listed company has an Investor Relations section on its website.
This is where companies publish information for shareholders and potential investors.
You can normally find things such as:
- Financial results
- Annual reports
- Dividend announcements
- Earnings releases
- Shareholder information
If I find an interesting dividend stock through a screener or brokerage app, this is one of the places I may go next.
The advantage is simple: the information is coming directly from the company.
For US-listed companies, you can also find official company filings through the SEC’s EDGAR database.
You do not need to read every page of an annual report just to find out whether a company pays dividends. For a quick check, the company’s dividend history, results announcement or Investor Relations page is usually a much easier starting point.
4. Check the Stock Exchange
The stock exchange itself is another useful place to verify dividend information.
For Singapore stocks, I often check SGX announcements. For Hong Kong stocks, you can do the same through HKEX.
This is particularly useful when you want to confirm details such as:
- Dividend amount
- Ex-dividend date
- Record date
- Payment date
For example, SGX corporate-action announcements show information such as the declared dividend rate, ex-date, record date and payment date.
HKEX also publishes dividend and other entitlement information for Hong Kong-listed companies, while reminding investors to refer to the actual company announcement for the full details.
This is why I tend to use different tools for different purposes.
A brokerage app or stock screener is much faster when I am looking for ideas.
The stock exchange or company announcement is better when I want to confirm the details.
How I Personally Find Dividend Stocks
My process is quite simple.
- Find: I use a stock screener or brokerage app to find companies that pay dividends.
- Check: I look at the dividend yield, previous payments and basic company information.
- Verify: If the company interests me, I check the latest announcement from the company or stock exchange.
After that, I can start asking the more important question:
Is this actually a good dividend stock to own?
I find this approach much easier than trying to start with annual reports and financial statements before I even know which companies I am interested in.
Finding a Dividend Stock Is Only the First Step
One mistake beginners can make is assuming that a company paying dividends automatically makes it a good dividend investment.
Unfortunately, it is not that simple.
Before investing, I normally want to understand things such as:
- Whether the dividend is sustainable
- Whether the company is actually making money
- Its dividend payout ratio
- Its debt
- Its dividend history
- Whether the underlying business is healthy
This is especially important when you see a stock offering an unusually high dividend yield.
Sometimes there is a perfectly reasonable explanation. Other times, the market may be expecting the dividend to be cut.
If you want to go deeper, I have a separate guide on the characteristics I look for in a good dividend stock.
You can also learn more about the dividend payout ratio and why I use it when looking at dividend sustainability.
Here’s what I think About Finding Dividend Stocks
Finding stocks that pay dividends is much easier than it used to be.
I normally start with a stock screener or brokerage app because it helps me find possible dividend stocks quickly. If a stock catches my attention, I then check the company’s official information or the stock exchange to confirm the dividend details.
The important distinction is this:
Finding a dividend stock is easy. Finding a good dividend stock takes more research.
Use the tools to build your shortlist. Then take the time to understand what you are actually investing in.
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Antony C. is a Singaporean dividend investor focused on building passive income through REITs, ETFs, and Dividend Stocks. With 15+ years of experience investing in Singapore, Hong Kong, and China markets, he founded IncomeBuddies.com to share practical wealth-building strategies tested in his own portfolio since 2008. His expertise has been featured in Yahoo Finance, Nasdaq, and NFAA, and he’s the published book author of "Start Small, Dream Big".