Dividend investing glossary

200-day average

The average closing price over the last 200 trading days — a slow gauge of trend. A price below it is often read as a relative discount.

3-year dividend CAGR

The compound annual growth rate of a company's dividend over the last three full years — a shorter-term read on how fast the payout is growing right now, next to the steadier 5-year figure.

5-year dividend CAGR

The compound annual growth rate of a company's dividend over the last five full years — the steady yearly pace at which the payout has grown, smoothing out one-off jumps.

52-week position

Where today's price sits between the 52-week low (0%) and high (100%). Near 100% means the stock is trading close to its yearly high — a momentum signal.

Assets under management (AUM)

The total value of the money a fund manages. A bigger fund is usually more liquid and less likely to be closed or merged away.

Chowder number

A dividend-growth screen: the current yield plus the 5-year dividend growth rate. A common rule of thumb wants at least 8% for higher-yield stocks (yield above 3%) or 12% otherwise — a quick gauge of total dividend-return potential.

Current ratio

Short-term assets divided by short-term liabilities. Above 1 means a company can cover the coming year's bills from cash and near-cash; below 1 is a liquidity squeeze that can pressure the dividend.

Current yield

A stock's annual dividend divided by today's share price — what a new buyer would earn right now.

DRIP

Dividend reinvestment: automatically using each dividend to buy more shares, compounding your income over time.

Debt-to-equity

Total debt divided by shareholders' equity, as a percentage. 100% means a company owes as much as it's worth to owners; higher means more borrowing — and more of its cash going to lenders before dividends.

Dividend Yield Theory

A valuation idea (Geraldine Weiss): a quality dividend payer is relatively cheap when its yield is near the high end of its own historical range, and expensive near the low end. The implied fair price is the annual dividend divided by the stock's average historical yield.

Dividend doubling time

Roughly how many years until the dividend doubles if it keeps growing at its recent rate, using the Rule of 72 (72 ÷ the growth rate as a percentage). A quick feel for how fast your income compounds — a 6% raiser doubles its payout in about 12 years.

Dividend growth streak

The number of consecutive years a company has raised its dividend. A long streak signals reliability; 25+ years earns the "dividend aristocrat" label.

Dividend per share

The cash a company pays out per share over a year. On a card, "Div" is this annual dividend per share.

Dividend safety

A quick read on how sustainable a payout looks, from the payout ratio, the growth trend and streak, and the yield. "At risk" flags warning signs like paying out more than the company earns — it's a prompt to look closer, not a prediction.

Dividend score

Quantic's 0–10 read on a dividend's quality, blending yield, payout stability and growth. Higher means sturdier — it's information, not a buy signal.

EBITDA

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation — a rough proxy for the cash a company's core operations throw off, before financing and accounting items. Often weighed against debt to gauge how easily a company can service what it owes.

EPS (earnings per share)

A company's annual profit divided by its shares — the earnings that back each share you own, and what dividends are ultimately paid from.

ETF

An exchange-traded fund — a single tradeable ticker holding a basket of stocks or bonds, so one purchase gives you the whole basket's diversification, usually at a low cost.

Ex-dividend date

The cut-off day: you must already own the stock before it to receive the next dividend. Buy on or after, and the seller keeps that payment.

Expense ratio (TER)

The yearly fee a fund or ETF charges, as a percentage of what you hold — quietly deducted from returns, so a lower expense ratio leaves more of the yield in your pocket.

FFO payout

For REITs, the share of Funds From Operations (FFO — a REIT's cash earnings, adding depreciation back to net income) paid out as dividends. It's the right coverage gauge for property companies, whose earnings-based payout looks misleadingly high. Comfortably under 100% means the dividend is covered by cash flow.

Fair value (DDM)

An estimate of what a share is worth based on its dividend: next year's dividend divided by the required return minus the dividend growth rate (the Gordon Growth model). Compared with the price to flag under- or over-valuation; it only applies when growth stays below the required return.

Gross vs. net

Gross is the dividend before tax; net is what actually lands after withholding tax. Quantic tracks both.

MCP (connector)

The Model Context Protocol — an open standard that lets an AI assistant (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini…) securely connect to an app like Quantic and read your data to answer questions. You add Quantic as a "connector" in your assistant, read-only.

Margin of safety

Benjamin Graham's idea of only buying when the price sits a comfortable distance below your fair-value estimate, leaving room for error. Here a stock reads "cheap" when the price is at least 15% below fair value, "expensive" when 15% above, and "fair" in between.

Market cap

Market capitalization: the company's total value on the market — share price times the number of shares. A quick gauge of size: large caps tend to be steadier dividend payers, smaller caps more volatile.

Maximum drawdown

The worst peak-to-trough drop in the share price over the available history — how much you'd have been down if you had bought at the high and held through the low. A plain gauge of how bumpy the ride has been.

Momentum

How strongly a stock's price is trending up — trading above its moving averages, high in its 52-week range, with positive recent returns. A trend read, not a valuation: a stock can have strong momentum and still be expensive.

Moving average

The average closing price over a rolling window — a smoothed line that cuts through day-to-day noise to show the trend. A shorter window (say 50 days) reacts quickly; a longer one (200 days, or 12 months) is slower and steadier. Price above its average is often read as strength, below as a relative discount.

PER (price/earnings)

Price-to-earnings: the share price divided by earnings per share — roughly how many years of today's earnings you're paying for. Lower can mean cheaper, but only compare within the same industry.

Path to freedom

Quantic's projection of when your dividend income could cover your living costs — your dividend-FIRE date.

Payout ratio

The share of earnings paid out as dividends. Low leaves room to grow and absorb shocks; very high can signal a payout that's hard to sustain.

Quick ratio

Like the current ratio but stricter — it excludes inventory, counting only the most liquid assets against short-term liabilities. A tougher test of whether a company can pay its near-term bills.

Sector-relative valuation

How cheap a stock looks compared with the other dividend payers in its own sector, rather than against the whole market. Shown as a percentile: "cheaper than 78% of the sector" means only 22% of its peers screen as better value on the same yardstick.

Target price

The price you'd be happy to buy a watched stock at. Quantic flags it on your radar when the market trades below it.

Total return

Everything a holding earns you — dividends received plus the change in share price — not just the income.

Two-stage DDM

A dividend discount model with two phases: a few years of fast growth at the company's recent rate, then a slower, permanent "terminal" rate. Because the fast phase is finite, it can value fast growers where the simple Gordon Growth model breaks down (when growth is close to or above the required return).

Underweight

A holding that's a smaller slice of your portfolio than you intend — a candidate to top up toward your target mix.

Value score

Quantic's 0–10 read on how cheap a dividend stock looks, combining its P/E, where its yield sits in its own 5-year range (Dividend Yield Theory), and its price versus a fair-value estimate. Higher = cheaper.

Yield band

A stock's current dividend yield shown against its own range over the past five years — the low, average and high. Near the high end the shares look relatively cheap for the income they pay; near the low end, relatively expensive. It's the picture behind Dividend Yield Theory.

Yield on cost

Your annual dividends from a holding divided by what you originally paid for it — so a growing payout keeps lifting your yield on cost even as the share price climbs.

Yield trap

An unusually high yield that looks tempting but signals danger: the market has pushed the price down because it expects a dividend cut. A stretched payout or a shrinking dividend alongside the sky-high yield is the tell — the income may not last.