Dividend yield error sources in a stock screener

On Aug. 12, 2026, Honeywell had a forward yield of 55% on my independent equity research site, Talval. The true answer was about 2%. This came from the fact that within our dividend data we had received two spin-offs as cash. Our calculations resulted in this error.

While this was an error on our part, we did not catch it as quickly as we should have. Our yield calculations come from a commercial data feed. While this is accurate the majority of the time, when there is an error it will usually be from a few predictable sources. This can cause the number to appear completely reasonable.

Since August 2026 we have looked at the dividend history of approximately 760 dividend-paying companies and cross-referenced them with their filings to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In all cases below, the company had provided the correct information but the error occurred between the data being provided and being displayed.

Apparent dividend reduction

The most common source of error comes from stock splits. On May 22, 2024, Nvidia announced a 10-for-1 stock split to take place on June 7, 2024. At the same time, they increased their quarterly dividend by 150% from $0.04 to $0.10 per share. This was prior to the split and equals $0.01 per share after it.

Without adjusting the dividend history for the stock split, it would show as a reduction from $0.04 to $0.01. However, shareholders actually received an increase. In our data, Nvidia was one of 38 companies that had been marked as having reduced their dividend in the last 10 years due to not adjusting for the stock split.

This can also cause an increase in yield. Booking Holdings had a 25-for-1 stock split on April 2, 2026. Their first quarter dividend was $10.50 per share, which equates to $0.42 post-split. This causes a big increase in yield when using split-adjusted prices but non-adjusted dividends. On the same day that we had Honeywell at 55%, we had Booking at around 14%. The true yield was less than 1%.

Rounding

This is a smaller error. On October 30, 2026, 448 of the 464 U.S. dividend-paying companies in the data feed we use had their dividends rounded to the nearest cent.

Most companies won’t be affected. However, those that increase their dividend by small amounts will lose their history. Realty Income is a real estate investment trust that pays monthly dividends. In their results release on November 2, 2026, they stated that they had announced their 136th dividend increase since listing on the New York Stock Exchange in 1994. They have increased their dividend for over 32 years in a row. However, in their 2020 annual report, they had 23 monthly payments between February 2019 and December 2020. These rose in small steps from $0.2255 to $0.234. When rounded to the nearest cent, they all become $0.23. This means eight increases are lost and the dividend appears to not have changed for two years.

Rounding can also create an apparent increase. GE HealthCare had a quarterly dividend of $0.035 per share between early 2025 and mid-2026. This was shown as $0.04 in our feed, overstating the yield by around 14%. When they did increase to $0.04 in the third quarter of 2026, their rounded history showed no increase.

Non-dividend payments

When a company has a spin-off, they give shareholders stock in the spin-off business. This will have a value per share and can be recorded in data feeds as a dividend. This is not a cash payment and will not be recurring.

Flex has never paid a cash dividend on their ordinary shares. On January 2, 2024, they completed the distribution of their holding in Nextracker. Shareholders received approximately 0.17 Nextracker shares for each Flex share. This was recorded as a dividend of $6.23 in our data feed. This meant our site showed Flex with an average yield of 20% over the last five years. In our data, we found 20 payments at 19 companies had been spin-offs recorded as normal dividends.

Honeywell had a spin-off where they gave one share in Solstice Advanced Materials for every four shares in Honeywell on October 30, 2025. On June 29, 2026, they spun-off their aerospace division. They gave one share for every two shares in Honeywell. They also completed a one-for-two reverse stock split on the same day. This meant they had two dividend payments in our feed. This is why a company with a yield of around 2% appeared to have a yield of 55%.

Usually the ex-dividend date is the first day that a new buyer will not receive the upcoming payment. However, if the distribution is worth 25% or more of the value of the security, then the ex-dividend date becomes the first business day after the payment date (see Rule 11140, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority [FINRA]). That distinction is lost when everything goes into one column.

Payments to others

The most bizarre errors come from payments that were never paid to the common shareholders.

AT&T has a bond listed on the New York Stock Exchange alongside their common shares. This is the 5.350% Global Notes due 2066 (TBB). The notes are sold in $25 pieces and pay interest quarterly. That works out to about 33 cents per note each quarter, and that interest payment showed up in AT&T's dividend history. AT&T's common dividend is 27.75 cents a quarter, or $1.11 per year. This meant that our forward dividend was $1.73 as we were including the bond interest. This was an increase of 56%. We found 27 rows like this at 15 companies. All of these came from notes or preferred shares listed.

Some errors come from company history. Dow and DuPont used to be one company called DowDuPont. In April 2019, they split Dow. In 2026, we had two payments of $0.35 under DuPont with the dates from Dow. Dow pays $0.35 per quarter. DuPont had paid $0.20 prior to a one-for-three reverse stock split in June 2026. We caught these before they appeared on a page.

Ticker reuse can also cause errors. Fiserv has never paid a dividend on their common shares. However, in our history we had 16 dividends between 2013 and 2017. This was because Fiserv used to trade under the ticker FI, which had earlier belonged to Frank’s International, an oil services company that traded under FI until they merged with Expro in 2021. We corrected this in September 2026.

How to check yourself

You do not need any special tools as companies provide the correct information. Under SEC Rule 10b-17, issuers generally must provide notice of a dividend to FINRA or the appropriate national securities exchange at least 10 days before the record date. This is the date that determines who will receive the dividend. The amount of the dividend is public knowledge.

Look at the latest dividend announcement or quarterly report. Multiply the normal dividend by the number of payments per year. Divide this by the current share price. If this is very different to the yield you are seeing, then trust the filing. Look at whether the company has had a stock split, reverse stock split or spin-off in the last year. If you see a dividend cut immediately after a split, be wary. If you see a much higher yield than the company’s own five-year average, double-check. If the company states that they have never paid a dividend, but there is a dividend history, then it is not theirs.

Sometimes a high yield is correct. After correcting these issues, we had nine companies with a yield of over 9% from our 642 dividend payers. Eight of these were mortgage real estate investment trusts and business development companies. These are specifically designed to pay out the majority of their income. If you see a very high yield, double-check.

How we did it

The figures shown from our data came from approximately 760 dividend-paying companies out of around 1,000 U.S. and European companies. This was taken from one commercial market data feed between August and November of 2026. We looked at each suspicious payment and compared them to the company’s filings with the SEC. This includes their annual and quarterly reports, current reports (Form 8-K) and attached press releases. Forward yield is calculated by taking the last normal dividend, multiplying by the number of payments per year and dividing by the share price. This is only one data feed and mainly relates to large companies. We have not tested other providers and cannot say how often they have the same issues.

Disclosure

I have no positions in any of the companies mentioned. Our site uses market data from a commercial provider.