Ex-Dividend Alert: 3 Stocks Going Ex-Dividend Tomorrow: SXE, SXL, NYCB

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, Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2014, 4:00 AM ET, 43 U.S. common stocks are scheduled to go ex-dividend. The dividend yields on these stocks range from 0.7% to 9%. All of these stocks can be found on our stocks going ex-dividend section of our dividend calendar.

Highlighted Stocks Going Ex-Dividend Tomorrow:

Southcross Energy Partners

Owners of Southcross Energy Partners (NYSE: SXE) shares, as of market close today, will be eligible for a dividend of 40 cents per share. At a price of $22.00 as of 9:36 a.m. ET, the dividend yield is 7.3%.

The average volume for Southcross Energy Partners has been 97,000 shares per day over the past 30 days. Southcross Energy Partners has a market cap of $471.4 million and is part of the utilities industry. Shares are up 23% 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.

Southcross Energy Partners, L.P., together with its subsidiaries, provides natural gas gathering, processing, treating, compression, and transportation services in the United States. It also offers natural gas liquid (NGL) fractionation and transportation services.

TheStreet Ratings rates Southcross Energy Partners as a sell. The company's weaknesses can be seen in multiple areas, such as its generally disappointing historical performance in the stock itself and poor profit margins. You can view the full Southcross Energy Partners Ratings Report now.

• See our top-yielding stocks list.

Sunoco Logistics Partners

Owners of Sunoco Logistics Partners (NYSE: SXL) shares, as of market close today, will be eligible for a dividend of 36 cents per share. At a price of $45.43 as of 9:35 a.m. ET, the dividend yield is 3.3%.

The average volume for Sunoco Logistics Partners has been 390,200 shares per day over the past 30 days. Sunoco Logistics Partners has a market cap of $9.3 billion and is part of the energy industry. Shares are up 21.6% 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.

Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P. is engaged in the transport, terminalling, and storage of crude oil, refined products, and natural gas liquids (NGL) in the United States. The company has a P/E ratio of 31.68.

TheStreet Ratings rates Sunoco Logistics Partners 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 and solid stock price performance. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had somewhat weak growth in earnings per share. You can view the full Sunoco Logistics Partners Ratings Report now.

• See our top-yielding stocks list.

New York Community Bancorp

Owners of New York Community Bancorp (NYSE: NYCB) shares, as of market close today, will be eligible for a dividend of 25 cents per share. At a price of $15.72 as of 9:36 a.m. ET, the dividend yield is 6.3%.

The average volume for New York Community Bancorp has been 2.5 million shares per day over the past 30 days. New York Community Bancorp has a market cap of $7.0 billion and is part of the banking industry. Shares are down 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.

New York Community Bancorp, Inc. operates as a multi-bank holding company for New York Community Bank and New York Commercial Bank that offer banking products and financial services in New York, New Jersey, Florida, Ohio, and Arizona. The company has a P/E ratio of 14.76.

TheStreet Ratings rates New York Community Bancorp as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its expanding profit margins and increase in stock price during the past year. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had sub par growth in net income. You can view the full New York Community Bancorp 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.