Ex-Dividend Alert: 5 Stocks Going Ex-Dividend Tomorrow: IRET, ARB, EXR, FNF, MO

Editor's Note: Any reference to TheStreet Ratings and its underlying recommendation does not reflect the opinion of TheStreet, Inc. or any of its contributors including Jim Cramer or Stephanie Link.

Tomorrow, Sept. 12, 2013, 48 U.S. common stocks are scheduled to go ex-dividend. The dividend yields on these stocks range from 0.2% to 22%. All of these stocks can be found on our stocks going ex-dividend section of our dividend calendar.

Highlighted Stocks Going Ex-Dividend Tomorrow:

Investors Real Estate

Owners of Investors Real Estate (NYSE: IRET) shares as of market close today will be eligible for a dividend of 13 cents per share. At a price of $8.17 as of 9:34 a.m. ET, the dividend yield is 6.2%.

The average volume for Investors Real Estate has been 456,200 shares per day over the past 30 days. Investors Real Estate has a market cap of $864.6 million and is part of the real estate industry. Shares are down 6.3% year to date as of the close of trading on Tuesday.

STOCKS TO BUY: TheStreet Quant Ratings has identified a handful of stocks that can potentially TRIPLE in the next 12-months. Learn more.

Investors Real Estate Trust, a real estate investment trust (REIT), engages in the ownership and operation of income-producing real estate properties in the United States. The company has a P/E ratio of 92.78.

TheStreet Ratings rates Investors Real Estate as a hold. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, compelling growth in net income and good cash flow from operations. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself and poor profit margins. You can view the full Investors Real Estate Ratings Report now.

• See our top-yielding stocks list.

Arbitron Corporation

Owners of Arbitron Corporation (NYSE: ARB) shares as of market close today will be eligible for a dividend of 10 cents per share. At a price of $47.55 as of 9:36 a.m. ET, the dividend yield is 0.8%.

The average volume for Arbitron Corporation has been 299,800 shares per day over the past 30 days. Arbitron Corporation has a market cap of $1.3 billion and is part of the media industry. Shares are up 1.9% year to date as of the close of trading on Tuesday.

STOCKS TO BUY: TheStreet Quant Ratings has identified a handful of stocks that can potentially TRIPLE in the next 12-months. Learn more.

Arbitron Inc. operates as a media and marketing information services company in the United States and internationally. The company has a P/E ratio of 24.47.

TheStreet Ratings rates Arbitron Corporation as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, solid stock price performance, expanding profit margins and notable return on equity. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had sub par growth in net income. You can view the full Arbitron Corporation Ratings Report now.

• See our top-yielding stocks list.

Extra Space Storage

Owners of Extra Space Storage (NYSE: EXR) shares as of market close today will be eligible for a dividend of 40 cents per share. At a price of $43.41 as of 9:35 a.m. ET, the dividend yield is 3.7%.

The average volume for Extra Space Storage has been 784,300 shares per day over the past 30 days. Extra Space Storage has a market cap of $4.8 billion and is part of the real estate industry. Shares are up 19.1% year to date as of the close of trading on Tuesday.

STOCKS TO BUY: TheStreet Quant Ratings has identified a handful of stocks that can potentially TRIPLE in the next 12-months. Learn more.

RF Rev 0/$100 Secured 0/$50 Secured 0/$45 Secured. The company has a P/E ratio of 32.85.

TheStreet Ratings rates Extra Space Storage as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its robust revenue growth, solid stock price performance, impressive record of earnings per share growth, compelling growth in net income and good cash flow from operations. Although no company is perfect, currently we do not see any significant weaknesses which are likely to detract from the generally positive outlook. You can view the full Extra Space Storage Ratings Report now.

• See our top-yielding stocks list.

Fidelity National Financial

Owners of Fidelity National Financial (NYSE: FNF) shares as of market close today will be eligible for a dividend of 16 cents per share. At a price of $24.84 as of 9:35 a.m. ET, the dividend yield is 2.5%.

The average volume for Fidelity National Financial has been 2.4 million shares per day over the past 30 days. Fidelity National Financial has a market cap of $5.8 billion and is part of the insurance industry. Shares are up 5.6% year to date as of the close of trading on Tuesday.

STOCKS TO BUY: TheStreet Quant Ratings has identified a handful of stocks that can potentially TRIPLE in the next 12-months. Learn more.

Fidelity National Financial, Inc. provides title insurance, mortgage services, and diversified services in the United States. The company has a P/E ratio of 9.19.

TheStreet Ratings rates Fidelity National Financial as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its robust revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, notable return on equity, good cash flow from operations and solid stock price performance. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company shows low profit margins. You can view the full Fidelity National Financial Ratings Report now.

• See our top-yielding stocks list.

Altria Group

Owners of Altria Group (NYSE: MO) shares as of market close today will be eligible for a dividend of 48 cents per share. At a price of $35.09 as of 9:35 a.m. ET, the dividend yield is 5.6%.

The average volume for Altria Group has been 8.6 million shares per day over the past 30 days. Altria Group has a market cap of $69.3 billion and is part of the tobacco industry. Shares are up 11.3% year to date as of the close of trading on Tuesday.

STOCKS TO BUY: TheStreet Quant Ratings has identified a handful of stocks that can potentially TRIPLE in the next 12-months. Learn more.

Altria Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of cigarettes, smokeless products, and wine in the United States and internationally. The company has a P/E ratio of 15.79.

TheStreet Ratings rates Altria Group as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its growth in earnings per share, notable return on equity, expanding profit margins, good cash flow from operations and increase in net income. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had generally high debt management risk by most measures that we evaluated. You can view the full Altria Group Ratings Report now.

• See our top-yielding stocks list.

More About Dividends:

One benefit of owning a stock is the potential that you will be paid a dividend. The distribution of dividend payments is another way for a company to share its profit with you. A dividend means that the company pays you a certain amount of money, either as a one-time payment or more commonly on a quarterly basis, for each share of stock you own.

Many times, dividends come at the expense of greater price appreciation, because the company is distributing its profits to shareholders rather than reinvesting the profits back into the growth of the company. However, companies that pay dividends can be very attractive to investors when they offer a steady stream of income. There are some important terms and dates an investor should be familiar with before purchasing any dividend-paying companies. Let's work through an example to help better explain some of these terms:

On March 1, ABC Widget Company has decided that because it holds excess cash and lacks investment opportunities, it would like to reward shareholders with a regular quarterly dividend payment. The date for this particular announcement is known as the declaration date. It is on this date that the company announces the specific dividend payment along with the holder of record date (aka record date) and the payment date. The company announces that a dividend payment of 25 cents per share will be payable March 31, 2012 (the payment date) to all shareholders of record at the close of business on March 16, 2012 (holder of record date). What does this all mean? Well the short story is that the company looks at its records on March 16 and anyone listed on the books as an owner of ABC Widget company will be eligible for the dividend payment (on March 31).

The one other important term to remember is the ex-dividend date. The ex-dividend date (typically two trading days before the holder of record date for U.S. securities) is the day in which a company begins trading without the dividend. In order to have a claim on a dividend, shares must be purchased no later than the last business day before the ex-dividend date. A company trading ex-dividend will have the upcoming dividend subtracted from the share price at the start of the trading day. Many times, the price of a stock will increase in anticipation of the upcoming dividend as the ex-dividend date approaches, yet will fall back by the amount of the dividend on the ex-dividend date.

• See our dividend calendar.