Does Cornerstone Strategic Value Fund (CLM) Pay a Dividend? (2026)

Yes. Cornerstone Strategic Value Fund pays a dividend yielding roughly 19.76% as of July 2026, paid monthly, twelve times a year. The most recent payment on record was $0.12 per share with an ex-dividend date of July 15, 2026. That works out to a forward annual rate of about $1.46 per share. Yields move with the share price, so verify the current figure with your broker or CLM's investor relations page before relying on it.

About 19.76% as of July 2026. On a $10,000 position that is roughly $1976 of dividend income a year before tax. For context, the S&P 500 yields around 1.2%, so CLM yields meaningfully more than the broad market. A higher yield is not automatically better: it can reflect a falling share price as easily as a generous payout, so it is worth checking why the number is what it is.

Cornerstone Strategic Value Fund pays monthly, twelve times a year. The most recent payment on record had an ex-dividend date of July 15, 2026. To receive a given payment you have to own the shares before the ex-dividend date, not on the pay date. Confirm upcoming dates on CLM's investor relations page, because boards can change both the amount and the timing.

The ex-dividend date recorded in our July 2026 data pull is August 14, 2026. The ex-dividend date is the cutoff: buy on or after it and the seller keeps that payment, not you. Buying just before the ex-date to capture the dividend does not create free money, because the share price typically drops by roughly the dividend amount when the stock goes ex. Check CLM's investor relations page for the next confirmed date.

$0.12 per share in the most recent payment (ex-date July 15, 2026), which annualizes to about $1.46 per share. The equivalent payment a year earlier was $0.12. That is a change of 0.0% year over year.

Not in the last year. The latest payment of $0.12 per share is unchanged from the $0.12 paid a year earlier. A flat dividend is not necessarily a warning sign, but it does mean the income is losing ground to inflation.

Cornerstone Strategic Value Fund paid out about 134% of reported net income as dividends, which means the dividend was larger than accounting earnings over the period. That sounds alarming and sometimes is, but it is normal and expected for REITs, BDCs, and companies carrying large non-cash charges such as amortization, because those businesses are judged on cash measures (FFO, AFFO, or distributable net investment income) rather than GAAP net income. The useful check for CLM is whether the cash-flow measure covers the payout, not the earnings-based ratio. Nobody can guarantee a dividend: boards cut them, and a high yield is sometimes the market pricing in exactly that. Walnut is not an investment adviser and this is not a recommendation.

At a yield of about 19.76%, roughly $1976 a year before tax, spread across 12 payments. That is a snapshot, not a promise: the amount changes when the company changes its payout, and your yield on cost is fixed at the price you paid, not at today's price.

Dividends from US common stock are usually qualified, meaning they are taxed at the lower long-term capital-gains rates, provided you held the shares for more than 60 days in the 121-day window around the ex-dividend date. Distributions from REITs, BDCs, and some pass-through structures are generally taxed as ordinary income instead. In an IRA or Roth the question does not arise. See our guide to how dividends are taxed. This is not tax advice.

Most brokers offer automatic reinvestment (a DRIP) that puts each CLM payment straight back into more shares, often fractional ones. Reinvesting compounds the position and is the standard choice when you do not need the cash yet. Taking the cash makes sense when you are spending the income or want to direct it elsewhere. Either way the dividend is taxable in a taxable account in the year it is paid, even if you never see the money.

CLM uses a managed distribution policy: the board sets a fixed annualized payout as a percentage of net asset value, which for 2026 was reset at roughly 21% of NAV, paid monthly. Because it is a percentage of NAV rather than of portfolio income, the dollar amount resets each year, and the payout often exceeds what the portfolio actually earns.

Yes. CLM offers a dividend reinvestment plan that reinvests distributions into additional shares at net asset value rather than at market price. Supporters of the fund emphasize this feature as a way to compound and offset the return-of-capital drag, since reinvesting at NAV can be favorable when the shares trade at a premium. Reinvestment versus taking cash is a key decision for how the fund behaves over time.