Stock Screener · Library
How do common-stock dividends and total dividends differ as source concepts?
Distinguish common-stock dividend payments from broader dividend-payment concepts in a source row.
A broad heading can hide a scope difference
PaymentsOfDividendsCommonStock and PaymentsOfDividends are different source concepts. A reference may try both in a declared priority chain, but it should preserve which one actually supplied the displayed fact. The friendly heading “Dividends paid” does not remove the distinction.
A cash-flow dividend-payment amount is also not an announced per-share dividend, an ex-dividend date or a forecast of the next payment. Those are separate quantities and events requiring their own sources.
Inspect the actual selected tag
The Apple example below uses the broader PaymentsOfDividends concept for the stated period. Keep that fact visible before using the amount in a coverage formula that may require a more specific definition.
If the required dividend scope is unavailable, leave the intended comparison unresolved rather than assuming that all dividend concepts are interchangeable. Meeting an arithmetic coverage condition would still not establish that a future distribution is safe or promised.
Reported source example
Apple Inc. · CIK 320193 · Dividends paid
| Reported value | Unit | Period type | Start | End | Concept | Filed | Filing FY / FP | Frame | Source filing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15421000000 | USD | duration | 2024-09-29 | 2025-09-27 | us-gaap:PaymentsOfDividends | 2025-10-31 | 2025 / FY | CY2025 | 10-K · 0000320193-25-000079 |