A dividend is a cash payment to shareholders as a reward for investing in company stock orequity shares. Ex-dividend means a company's dividend allocations have been specified. 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.
Key Takeaways
Ex-dividend means a company's dividend allocations have been specified.
The ex-dividend date is when the stock begins trading without the subsequent dividend value.
Investors who purchase stock before the ex-dividend date are entitled to the next dividend payment while those who purchase stock on or after the ex-dividend date are not.
Ex-Dividend Date
A stock trades ex-dividend on andafter the ex-dividend dateor ex-date.Investors who buy a stock on the ex-dividend date or after will not receive the next dividend payment. Since buyers aren't entitled to the next dividend payment on theex-date, the stock will be priced lower by the amount of the dividend by the exchange.
Some broker platforms might use an XD suffix to the stock's ticker to indicate it is trading ex-dividend.
Declaring Dividends
When a company declares a dividend, its board of directors establishes arecord date when investors must be on record as shareholders to receive the dividend payment. Once the record date is set, the ex-dividend date is also determined according to the exchange ruleson which the stock is traded.
The ex-dividend date is one business day before the record date. For example, if a company declares a dividend on March 3 with a record date of Monday, April 11, the ex-dividend date would be Friday, April 8, because it’s one business day before the record date. The ex-dividend date is before the record date because of how stock trades are settled.
After a stock trade, the transaction isn't settled for one business day, known as the "T+1" settlement. Investors with stock on Thursday, April 7 that is sold on Friday, April 8 would still be the shareholder of record on Monday, April 11, because the trade hasn't settled. However, if the stock sold on Wednesday, April 6, the trade would be settled on Thursday, April 7, before the ex-dividend date of Friday, April 8, and the new buyer would be entitled to the dividend.
Stock Price and Ex-Dividend
On average, a stock price will drop slightly less than the dividend amount. Given that stock prices move daily, the fluctuation caused by small dividends may be difficult to detect. The effect on stocks from larger dividend payments can be easier to observe.
If a company issues a dividend in stock instead of cash or the cash dividend is 25% or more of the value of the stock, the ex-dividend date rules differ. With a stock or large cash dividend, the ex-dividend date is set on the first business day after the dividend is paid.
Key Dividend-Related Dates
Declaration date: This is the date when a company's board of directors announces the dividend distribution. Any change in the expected dividend can cause the stock to rise or fall quickly as traders adjust their expectations. The ex-date and record date will occur after the declaration date.
Record date: This is when the company reviews who the shareholders of record are. The record date is one business day after the ex-date.
Payment date: Dividend checks are sent or credited to investor accounts.
What Is an Example of a Dividend Payment?
Suppose Company XYZ pays a $0.53 per share dividend on June 2, 2024. The payment goes to shareholders who had purchased stock before the ex-date of May 5, 2024. The company declared the dividend on Feb. 19, 2024, and the record date was set as May 6, 2024. Onlyshareholders who purchased the stock before the ex-dividend date are entitled to the payment.
Why Does the Stock Price Fall on the Ex-Dividend Date?
The price of a stock tends to fall by the amount of the dividend on its ex-dividend date, reflecting that its assets will soon be dropping by the amount of the dividend.
How Does the Ex-Dividend Date Help Investors?
If an investing strategy is focused on income, knowing when the ex-date occurs helps investors plan their trade entries. However, because the stock's price drops by about the same value as the dividend, buying a stock right before the ex-date shouldn't result in any profits. The same applies if investors buy on or after the ex-date and get a "discount" for the dividend they won’t receive.
The Bottom Line
The ex-dividend date is one of four steps a company follows when paying dividends. The declaration date is when a company states its plans to issue a dividend. The record date is when the company determines which shareholders are entitled to a dividend. The ex-dividend date is usually the day before the record date. The payment date is the day when dividend payments are made.
Correction—Nov. 28, 2023:This article has been corrected to state the date when a new buyer would be entitled to a dividend.
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.
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 set the first business day after the stock dividend is paid (and is also after the record date). If you sell your stock before the ex-dividend date, you also are selling away your right to the stock dividend.
An ex-dividend date is the day on which a stock trades without the benefit of the next scheduled dividend payment. Instead, the dividend is paid to the previous owner. The ex-dividend date is the day before the trade's record date. The record date finalizes the transfer of the stock's ownership.
If you buy a stock one day before the ex-dividend, you will get the dividend. If you buy on the ex-dividend date or any day after, you won't get the dividend. Conversely, if you want to sell a stock and still get a dividend that has been declared, you need to hang onto it until the ex-dividend day.
With dividends, the stock price typically undergoes a single adjustment by the amount of the dividend. The stock price drops by the amount of the dividend on the ex-dividend date. Remember, the ex-dividend date is the day before the record date.
The day before the ex-dividend date is the last day to buy a stock and be eligible to receive the dividend payment. The ex-date is also the day when the stock price often drops in accordance with the declared dividend amount. Traders must purchase the stock prior to this critical day.
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.
After a stock goes ex-dividend, the share price typically drops by the amount of the dividend paid to reflect the fact that new shareholders are not entitled to that payment. Dividends paid out as stock instead of cash can dilute earnings, which can also have a negative impact on share prices in the short term.
The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), and Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL) are some of the best dividend growers to generate regular income as these companies have raised their payouts for decades.
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 date is when the stock begins trading without the subsequent dividend value. Investors who purchase stock before the ex-dividend date are entitled to the next dividend payment while those who purchase stock on or after the ex-dividend date are not.
“Dividend capture strategy” returns are the trading technique of buying a stock just before the dividend is paid, holding it just long enough to collect the dividend, then selling it. If you can sell it for as much as you paid, you have “captured” the dividend at no cost, other than the transaction costs.
If you're investing a large amount, it's a good idea to find out if any dividends are coming up. If so, consider investing your money once that date has passed. This is one of the only situations when it might make sense to "time" your investment, and it only applies to large sums of money.
You may have to pay capital gains tax on stocks sold for a profit. Any profit you make from selling a stock is taxable at either 0%, 15% or 20% if you held the shares for more than a year. If you held the shares for a year or less, you'll be taxed at your ordinary tax rate.
Dividend capture can be an effective short-term trading strategy in certain markets, but it's not a plan to gain long-term wealth. Dividend harvesting can provide steady and reliable income without worrying too much about volatile market gyrations or confusing technical analysis.
If you believe a company will post strong earnings and expect the stock to rise after the announcement, you could purchase the stock beforehand. Conversely, if you believe a company will post disappointing earnings and expect the stock to decline after the announcement, you could short the stock.
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