How to Import Dividend Data into Google Sheets

In this post, we will discuss how to pull stock dividend information into Google Sheets for free.

In Google Sheets, we can use the GOOGLEFINANCE function to get stock prices but for detailed dividend information (dividend yield or history), we will need to use external data sources like Yahoo Finance. We can use Google Apps Script to automate pulling data from Yahoo Finance and filling it into Google Sheets.

How to Use the File : First make a copy by selecting File > Make a copy. While running the script, Google will ask you to authorize Appscript once.

We will import the following data from YahooFinance into Google Sheets.

1. Historical Dividend Data
2. Forward Annual Dividend Rate
3. Forward Annual Dividend Yield
4. 5 Year Average Dividend Yield
5. Trailing Annual Dividend Rate
6. Trailing Annual Dividend Yield
7. Payout Ratio
8. Ex-Dividend Date

Historical Dividend Data

It includes information about dividends that a company has paid out to its shareholders between two specific period of time. The end date argument is not included in the range.

Once you click on the Get Historical Data button, dividend data will be fetched from yahoo finance and will appear in the "HistoricalData" sheet tab.

This google sheet tool gets dividend information for hundreds of thousands of stocks from 48 countries. Make sure to use the correct ticker format from Yahoo Finance. For US stocks, just enter the ticker symbols but for stocks outside the US, you will need to add a suffix as shown in the table below.

Example : The ticker for LVMH is MC. So we need to input MC.PA as 'PA' refers to the exchange in france.

Note : The macro returns NA if no data is found on Yahoo Finance.

Key Dividend Statistics

Key statistics related to dividends are downloaded from Yahoo Finance when you click on the "Get Key Dividend Metrics" button in Google Sheets.

The following Google Apps Script is used to import historical dividend data from Yahoo Finance into Google Sheets.

function getData() {
  var inputControls = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getSheetByName("Inputs");
  var outputData = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getSheetByName("HistoricalData");
  
  var lastRow = inputControls.getLastRow();
  
  // Arguments
  var startDate = Math.floor((inputControls.getRange("B4").getValue() - new Date('January 1, 1970')) / 1000);
  var endDate = Math.floor((inputControls.getRange("B5").getValue() - new Date('January 1, 1970')) / 1000);
  
  var dateDifference = inputControls.getRange("B5").getValue() - inputControls.getRange("B4").getValue();
  
  if (inputControls.getRange("B5").getValue() > new Date()) {
    var result = Browser.msgBox("EndDate seems greater than today's date. Okay to you?", Browser.Buttons.YES_NO);
    if (result == 'no') return;
  }
  
  if (dateDifference < 1) {
    Browser.msgBox("Date difference must be at least one. Since EndDate is not inclusive of the date, you can have one day difference between start and end Date to fetch latest price");
    return;
  }

  var outputLastRow = outputData.getLastRow();
  if (outputLastRow > 1) {
    outputData.getRange("A2:H" + outputLastRow).clearContent();
  }

  // Loop over multiple symbols
  for (var i = 8; i <= lastRow; i++) {
    var symbol = inputControls.getRange("A" + i).getValue();
    var offsetCounter = 1;
    extractData(symbol, startDate, endDate, offsetCounter, outputData);
  }

  var rng = outputData.getRange("A:D");
  rng.removeDuplicates([1, 3, 4]);

  // Select the outputData sheet after the script finishes
  SpreadsheetApp.setActiveSheet(outputData);

}

function extractData(symbols, startDate, endDate, offsetCounter, outputData) {
  var tickerURL = "https://query1.finance.yahoo.com/v8/finance/chart/" + symbols +
    "?events=capitalGain%7Cdiv%7Csplit&formatted=true&includeAdjustedClose=true&interval=1d&period1=" + startDate +
    "&period2=" + endDate;

  var response = UrlFetchApp.fetch(tickerURL);
  var data = JSON.parse(response.getContentText());

  var combinedData = extractDividends(data, symbols);

  if (!combinedData || typeof combinedData === 'string') {
    outputData.getRange(outputData.getLastRow() + offsetCounter, 1, 1, 4).setValues([["NA", "NA", "NA", symbols]]);
  } else {
    outputData.getRange(outputData.getLastRow() + offsetCounter, 1, combinedData.length, combinedData[0].length).setValues(combinedData);
  }
}

function extractDividends(data, symbol) {
  if (!data.chart || !data.chart.result || data.chart.result.length === 0) {
    return "No dividends found.";
  }

  var result = [];
  var dividends = data.chart.result[0].events && data.chart.result[0].events.dividends; // Check if events exists

  if (!dividends) {
    return "No dividends found."; // Return if dividends is undefined
  }

  var exchangeTimezoneName = data.chart.result[0].meta.exchangeTimezoneName;
  var currency = data.chart.result[0].meta.currency;

  for (var date in dividends) {
    if (dividends.hasOwnProperty(date)) {
      var dividend = dividends[date];
      result.push([
        formatDate(new Date(date * 1000), exchangeTimezoneName), // Format date
        dividend.amount,
        currency,
        symbol
      ]);
    }
  }

  return result.length > 0 ? result : "No dividends found."; // Return result or a message
}

function formatDate(date, timezone) {
  // Convert date to local timezone if necessary
  return date.toISOString().split('T')[0];
}