Finding out the Ex-Dividend Date for a Stock's Dividend (2024)

FAQs

Finding out the Ex-Dividend Date for a Stock's Dividend? ›

Existing shareholders of a company's stock receive notification, typically by mail, when the company declares a dividend payment. Included in the information, along with the amount of the dividend, the record date, and the payment date is the ex-dividend date.

The ex-dividend date or "ex-date" is usually one business day before the record date. Investors who purchase a stock on its ex-dividend date or after will not receive the next dividend payment. Instead, the seller gets the dividend. Investors only get dividends if they buy the stock before the ex-dividend date.

The record date will usually be the trading day following the ex-dividend date, which is the trading date the dividend is no longer owed to new buyers of the stock. To be eligible for the upcoming dividend, you must buy the stock at least two business days before the record date.

The declaration date is the day on which the board of directors announces the dividend. The ex-date or ex-dividend date is the trading date on (and after) which the dividend is not owed to a new buyer of the stock. The ex-date is one business day before the date of record.

The information is usually reported through major stock quoting services for easy reference. The key dividend dates that an investor should be aware of are: The declaration date: The date that the dividend is declared and the dividend amount, ex-date, record date, and payment date are set.

If you buy stocks one day or more before their ex-dividend date, you will still get the dividend. That's when a stock is said to trade cum-dividend, or with dividend. If you buy on the ex-dividend date or later, you won't get the dividend. The ex-dividend date is in place to allow pending stock trades to settle.

The ex-dividend date is the first day of trading in which new shareholders don't have rights to the next dividend disbursem*nt. However, if shareholders continue to hold their stock, they may qualify for the next dividend. If shares are sold on or after the ex-dividend date, they will still receive the dividend.

When it comes to investing for dividends, there are three key dates that everyone should memorize. The three dates are the date of declaration, date of record, and date of payment.

Dividends are not reported on the income statement. They would be found in a statement of retained earnings or statement of stockholders' equity once declared and in a statement of cash flows when paid.

Shares must be bought before the ex-date because, if an investor purchases the shares on the ex-date, they will not be credited with the ownership of given shares by the set record date and, therefore, will not be eligible for the bonus shares.

How long do you have to own a stock before the ex-dividend date? ›

The ex-dividend date is the first day the stock trades without its dividend, thus ex-dividend. If you want to get the dividend payment, you need to own the stock by this day. That means you have to buy before the end of the day before the ex-dividend date to get the next dividend. In other words, it's the cut-off date.

The ex-dividend date occurs first. You must have acquired your shares before the ex-dividend date in order to receive a dividend. If you acquired your shares on or after the ex-dividend date, the previous owner will receive the dividend. Sell your shares on or after the Ex-Dividend Date and you'll receive the dividend.

The Ex-dividend price

In many cases, this fall in the share price is almost equal to the dividend that has been announced. For example, if company X has distributed dividends worth Rs. 50, one can most likely expect a fall in the stock price by the same amount one day after the distribution has been done.

In a market that generates a 2% annual yield, you would need to invest $600,000 up front in order to reliably generate $12,000 per year (or $1,000 per month) in dividend payments.

How Long Do I Need to Own a Stock to Collect the Dividend? To collect a stock's dividend you must own the stock at least two days before the record date and hold the shares until the ex-date.

If you have bought a stock one day before the ex-dividend date, you will be eligible to get the dividend amount. However, if you buy the stock on the ex-dividend date or after the ex-dividend date, you won't be eligible to receive the dividend.

Dividend capture specifically calls for buying a stock just prior to the ex-dividend date in order to receive the dividend, then selling it immediately after the dividend is paid. The purpose of the two trades is simply to receive the dividend, as opposed to investing for the longer term.

For most people, it is not rational to time delay their share sale to capture a dividend. There are some minor tax consideration, but these will not be material for most people with relatively small shareholdings. Bottom line – if you want to sell your shares, sell them!