Shareholder dividends are payments made to the owners of a company (shareholders) as a return on their investment. It is a portion of the company's profits distributed to the shareholders, rewarding them for their ownership. Full definition
That's because it takes a special kind of business to not only pay shareholders dividends, but to also increase the amount of those dividends year in and year out. (dailytradealert.com)
It's been argued that because companies have shifted from sending shareholders dividend checks to buying back shares, the valuation of stocks should be higher. (hussman.net)
(REITs rarely have high amounts of cash on the books because most of the money goes to pay shareholder dividends). (nreionline.com)