Dividend Watch: 5 Stocks Going Ex-Dividend Tomorrow: AFB, GLNG, GCI, PEG, BAX

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, Dec. 4, 2013, 43 U.S. common stocks are scheduled to go ex-dividend. The dividend yields on these stocks range from 0.1% to 8.2%. All of these stocks can be found on our stocks going ex-dividend section of our dividend calendar.

Highlighted Stocks Going Ex-Dividend Tomorrow:

AllianceBernstein National Municipal Income

Owners of AllianceBernstein National Municipal Income (NYSE: AFB) shares as of market close today will be eligible for a dividend of 7 cents per share. At a price of $12.34 as of 9:33 a.m. ET, the dividend yield is 7.1%.

The average volume for AllianceBernstein National Municipal Income has been 112,500 shares per day over the past 30 days. AllianceBernstein National Municipal Income has a market cap of $355.0 million and is part of the financial services industry. Shares are down 20.6% year-to-date as of the close of trading on Monday.

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

• See our top-yielding stocks list.

Golar LNG

Owners of Golar LNG (NASDAQ: GLNG) shares as of market close today will be eligible for a dividend of 45 cents per share. At a price of $35.90 as of 9:35 a.m. ET, the dividend yield is 5%.

The average volume for Golar LNG has been 582,600 shares per day over the past 30 days. Golar LNG has a market cap of $2.9 billion and is part of the transportation industry. Shares are down 1.2% year-to-date as of the close of trading on Monday.

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

Golar LNG Limited, a midstream liquefied natural gas (LNG) company, engages in the transportation, regasification and liquefaction, and trading of LNG. The company has a P/E ratio of 3.12.

TheStreet Ratings rates Golar LNG as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures 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 Golar LNG Ratings Report now.

• See our top-yielding stocks list.

Gannett

Owners of Gannett (NYSE: GCI) shares as of market close today will be eligible for a dividend of 20 cents per share. At a price of $26.44 as of 9:35 a.m. ET, the dividend yield is 3%.

The average volume for Gannett has been 2.3 million shares per day over the past 30 days. Gannett has a market cap of $6.2 billion and is part of the media industry. Shares are up 50.2% year-to-date as of the close of trading on Monday.

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

Gannett Co., Inc. operates as a media and marketing solutions company in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Publishing, Digital, and Broadcasting. The Publishing Segment operates 82 U.S. The company has a P/E ratio of 15.82.

TheStreet Ratings rates Gannett as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its solid stock price performance, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, reasonable valuation levels, 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 Gannett Ratings Report now.

• See our top-yielding stocks list.

Public Service Enterprise Group

Owners of Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE: PEG) shares as of market close today will be eligible for a dividend of 36 cents per share. At a price of $32.59 as of 9:35 a.m. ET, the dividend yield is 4.4%.

The average volume for Public Service Enterprise Group has been 3.2 million shares per day over the past 30 days. Public Service Enterprise Group has a market cap of $16.5 billion and is part of the utilities industry. Shares are up 6.8% year-to-date as of the close of trading on Monday.

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

Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated, through its subsidiaries, operates as an energy company primarily in the northeastern and mid Atlantic United States. The company has a P/E ratio of 13.08.

TheStreet Ratings rates Public Service Enterprise Group as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, attractive valuation levels, expanding profit margins, good cash flow from operations and largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had somewhat disappointing return on equity. You can view the full Public Service Enterprise Group Ratings Report now.

• See our top-yielding stocks list.

Baxter International

Owners of Baxter International (NYSE: BAX) shares as of market close today will be eligible for a dividend of 49 cents per share. At a price of $67.80 as of 9:35 a.m. ET, the dividend yield is 2.9%.

The average volume for Baxter International has been 3.6 million shares per day over the past 30 days. Baxter International has a market cap of $37.1 billion and is part of the health services industry. Shares are up 2.3% year-to-date as of the close of trading on Monday.

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

Baxter International Inc., through its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and markets products for people with hemophilia, immune disorders, infectious diseases, kidney disease, trauma, and other chronic and acute medical conditions. The company has a P/E ratio of 17.33.

TheStreet Ratings rates Baxter International as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, good cash flow from operations, expanding profit margins, notable return on equity and increase in stock price during the past year. 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 Baxter International 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.