How can you tell if a company pays a dividend once a year twice or 4 times?

Answer 1

Go to yahoo finance and enter the ticker symbol for a quote .
When it comes up , choose the historical prices link on the left .
Once on that page , you can select dividends only .

Here is a Canadian company that pays 12 times a year ! (monthly)

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?a=04&b=24&c=1989&d=08&e=5&f=2007&g=v&s=erf

>

Answer 2

If you go to their webste, usually in the investor relations/shareholders section, there is often an FAQ that will answer this.

Answer 3

call them, check their info on morningstar.com, read their annual report