How to Find the Ex-Dividend Date for a Stock's Dividend (2024)

FAQs

How to Find 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 for stocks is usually set one business day before the record date. If you purchase a stock on its ex-dividend date or after, you will not receive the next dividend payment. Instead, the seller gets the dividend. If you purchase before the ex-dividend date, you get the dividend.

The ex-dividend date is the day on which the equity share price adjusts to reflect the next dividend payout. It is the day the stock becomes ex-dividend, which means it does not carry the value of its next dividend payment from that day forward.

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.

Ticker pages on Dividend.com make this sort of stock dividend history analysis relatively easy and straightforward; simply search for a ticker using the search box at the top of the page, and scroll down to the Dividend Yield & Stock Price History and Dividend Payout History sections for a visual representation of its ...

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 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sets the ex-dividend date to one day before the record date, so that buy and sell information is captured before the record date. The time difference between the dividend record date and ex-dividend date allows the necessary time to prepare paperwork and electronic records.

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.

The value of a share of stock goes down by about the dividend amount when the stock goes ex-dividend. Investors who own mutual funds, stocks, and other securities should find out the ex-dividend date for those investments and evaluate how the distribution will affect their tax bill.

Regardless, if you'd like to sell your shares and still get the dividend, hold onto them until the Ex-Dividend Date. Sell on or after the Ex-Dividend Date and you'll still receive the dividend.

Is it smart to buy a stock right before dividends? ›

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 marks a pivotal moment for investors, signalling the deadline for purchasing shares to qualify for dividend payments. Typically set two trading days before the record date, this date ensures that shareholders acquire shares before the record date to be eligible for dividends.

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.

The record date: The date that determines all shareholders of record who are entitled to the dividend payment. This date usually occurs two days after the ex-date. The payment date: This is the day dividend payments are issued to shareholders and is usually about one month after the record date.

Many stock brokerages offer their customers screening tools that help them find information on dividend-paying stocks. Investors can also find dividend information on the Security and Exchange Commission's website, through specialty providers, and through the stock exchanges themselves.

Stocks Ex-Dividend Dates Alerts is a pre-set screener. It gets you worth-buying stocks with recent ex-dividend date. A stock's ex-dividend date is one business day before the record date. Investors who buy the stocks on or after that day will not receive dividend.

This can be an important for dividend investors when buying a stock on the ex-dividend date. If you buy on or after the ex-dividend-date in regular trading, after hours trading or premarket trading, you do not qualify for the dividend. However if you buy the day before, even in after hours trading, you still qualify.

Another important note to consider: as long as you purchase a stock prior to the ex-dividend date, you can then sell the stock any time on or after the ex-dividend date and still receive the dividend. A common misconception is that investors need to hold the stock through the record date or pay date.

In summary, the dividend capture strategy involves buying a stock just before the ex-dividend date to receive the dividend, then selling it after the price recovers to break even. While potentially profitable, this strategy has several risks for small investors.