Ex-Dividends To Watch: 3 Stocks Going Ex-Dividend Monday: BNS, RCII, UFS

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.

Monday, Monday, June 30, 2014, 4:00 AM ET, 9 U.S. common stocks are scheduled to go ex-dividend. The dividend yields on these stocks range from 1.7% to 9.9%. All of these stocks can be found on our stocks going ex-dividend section of our dividend calendar.

Highlighted Stocks Going Ex-Dividend Monday:

Bank of Nova Scotia

Owners of Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE: BNS) shares, as of market close today, will be eligible for a dividend of 59 cents per share. At a price of $66.94 as of 9:43 a.m. ET, the dividend yield is 3.6%.

The average volume for Bank of Nova Scotia has been 263,900 shares per day over the past 30 days. Bank of Nova Scotia has a market cap of $80.5 billion and is part of the banking industry. Shares are up 6.8% year-to-date as of the close of trading on Thursday.

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

The company has a P/E ratio of 13.34.

• See our top-yielding stocks list.

Rent-A-Center

Owners of Rent-A-Center (NASDAQ: RCII) shares, as of market close today, will be eligible for a dividend of 23 cents per share. At a price of $28.43 as of 9:45 a.m. ET, the dividend yield is 3.2%.

The average volume for Rent-A-Center has been 700,700 shares per day over the past 30 days. Rent-A-Center has a market cap of $1.5 billion and is part of the specialty retail industry. Shares are down 14% year-to-date as of the close of trading on Thursday.

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

Rent-A-Center, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, leases household durable goods to customers on a rent-to-own basis. The company operates in four segments: Core U.S., Acceptance Now, International, and Franchising. The company has a P/E ratio of 13.73.

TheStreet Ratings rates Rent-A-Center as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, attractive valuation levels, good cash flow from operations, expanding profit margins and largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had sub par growth in net income. You can view the full Rent-A-Center Ratings Report now.

• See our top-yielding stocks list.

Domtar

Owners of Domtar (NYSE: UFS) shares, as of market close today, will be eligible for a dividend of 38 cents per share. At a price of $43.55 as of 9:46 a.m. ET, the dividend yield is 3.4%.

The average volume for Domtar has been 916,900 shares per day over the past 30 days. Domtar has a market cap of $2.8 billion and is part of the consumer non-durables industry. Shares are down 8.2% year-to-date as of the close of trading on Thursday.

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

Domtar Corporation designs, manufactures, markets, and distributes communications papers, specialty and packaging papers, and absorbent hygiene products in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and internationally. It operates in two segments, Pulp and Paper, and Personal Care. The company has a P/E ratio of 33.35.

TheStreet Ratings rates Domtar as a hold. 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 and good cash flow from operations. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including disappointing return on equity, poor profit margins and feeble growth in the company's earnings per share. You can view the full Domtar 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.