Talk:Ex-dividend date

message: I removed this sentence: "For large dividends, the ex-dividend date is typically after the record date." In my experience, for large dividends the ex-dividend date is two business days before (with the same exceptions), just like any dividend. Perhaps you meant to say that for open-end mutual funds, the ex-dividend date is the day after the record date - that might be true.
Here is an example of a large dividend in my experience. In the June 22, 2006 Wall Street Journal, page C9, Corporate Dividend News, a large $3.3877 dividend was declared for "MS Estrn Europe Fd RNE" with a record date of "6-30" (June 30, 2006). Now turn to the June 29, 2006 Wall Street Journal, which shows how stocks traded on June 28. On page B7, bottom half where it says "CLOSED-END FUNDS", column 7, you'll find "MS EstEur RNE sx". The "x" means it went ex-dividend on that day, June 28 (see "How to Read the Stock Tables" on page C5). June 28 is two business days before June 30 as normal, as are all dividends in my experience - although I don't trade open end mutual funds. Art LaPella 18:27, 5 August 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Months later, I now know the sentence I reverted was basically right, although only for dividends much larger than my example. This is now explained in the article's current version. Art LaPella 04:01, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Reversion explanation

message: Do we have to merge? Dividend is about 17K, approaching the 30K level where Wikipedia:Summary style recommends splitting off subtopics like this one down into sub-articles, like this one. We could consolidate some repeated information, both duplicated information within this article itself, and information in the Dividend article that could be summarized away, leaving this article to explain details like Columbus Day. Art LaPella 17:30, 11 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Merge

message: The article as written goes into a great deal (and probably excessive) detail about how full days are counted, but doesn't explain what happens if trades are made during critical dates (e.g., the record date).  For example, is it ownership at the close of the market, at the end of after-hours trading, at the open of market, at midnight, or some other time that is used?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.36.154.75 (talk) 03:48, August 29, 2007 (UTC) 
:How did I miss this comment? The article says "Someone who purchases the stock on or after the ex-dividend date will not receive the dividend..." If they purchase the stock before the ex-dividend date (not the record date), they don't get the dividend. Thus your answer could be "midnight", although the markets aren't open at midnight. Art LaPella 02:48, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Confustion about fractions of a day

message: The Ex-dividend date article states:
If you buy on or prior to the ex-dividend date, you are buying in time to receive and be entitled to the upcoming dividend payment. Selling your stock on the ex-dividend date or after, means selling it without the dividend. The buyer of you stock will not receive the latest dividend payment pay-out, but would receive the next dividend pay-out if held one day prior to the next ex-dividend date.
When the owner sells the stock on/soon after (before the record date) the ex-dividend date, the owner is "selling it without the dividend." However, does this mean that the "owner" who just sold the stock will still receive the dividend pay-out? I understand that the new owner who just bought the shares will not receive the dividend pay-out because he did not buy the shares three days before the record date; however, does this mean that no one will receive a dividend payout for those shares just sold between the ex-dividend date and the record date? Or will the previous owner still receive a dividend pay-out because he owned it, originally, three days before the record date?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 165.123.231.71 (talk) 22:07, 1 November 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: The previous owner gets a dividend, even though he sold it 1 or 2 days before the record date, because in a sense he still owns it until the trade settles 3 days later. Somebody always gets the dividend. The ex-dividend date determines who that somebody is. By the way, I'm changing "If you buy on or prior ..." to "If you buy prior ...". Art LaPella (talk) 23:48, 1 November 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Selling  on/after the ex-dividend date, still receive the dividend payment? 

message: This question is from a seller's perspective:  Ex Dividend date is tomorrow Friday 13th June. Today is Thursday the 12th June. I purchased shares a year ago so I own them.  If I sell them today on Thursday 12th June, I will still own the shares up until till T+3 settlement which is up to Tuesday the 17th (ignoring 2 days in the weekend) ie past the ex dividend date.  Will I still be entitled to the dividend?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.0.77.123 (talk) 01:10, 12 June 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: No. One way of stating the confusion is: do you stop owning the stock on Thursday when the order is executed at a stock exchange, or do you stop owning it on Tuesday when the settlement is complete? Thursday the 12th is before the ex-dividend date Friday the 13th, and Tuesday the 17th is the record date. Either way, you don't get the dividend. Art LaPella (talk) 04:56, 12 June 2014 (UTC)
thread_title: New Question

message: Here is the bottom lime question.  In the example regarding Dupont if you buy the stock on the 11th and sell the stock on the 13th do you get the dividend? ----
:Yes. The example says the ex-dividend date is August 12, so even if you sold on August 12 you get the dividend. As the article's first sentence explains, the ex-dividend date is what determines if you get the dividend. Please move this to the bottom of the page after you have read it; that's where it belongs according to Wikipedia customs and rules. Art LaPella (talk) 02:45, 5 March 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes, "ex-dividend date" can be abbreviated as "XD", if that's what you meant. Art LaPella (talk) 01:21, 7 July 2012 (UTC)
thread_title: Question

message: "An investor only needs to own the stock for one day (the record date) to be entitled to receive the dividend payment. If the investor buys before the ex-dividend date, and sells on the ex-dividend date or after, the investor will receive the dividend payment."
Which is the one day you need to own it for? The Record Date or (two business days earlier) the XD? 76.126.215.43 (talk) 04:40, 22 January 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Completely befuddled 

message: The intro is confusing to the layman. Simply put, dividend payments goes to whoever is/was holding the stock before the The Ex-dividend Date.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 119.247.68.90 (talk) 02:28, 18 March 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree that this article continues to need work. I am mystified why the editors assume that there is a sale of stock involved. For the enormous majority of dividend payments, obviously, the owner is the same before that date as after. The lede SHOULD explain that. I also think that using the word "date" to specify the time of a stock trade is sloppy and ill-considered.  Last I heard, the world has an international date line, meaning that at any one second, two dates correctly describe that instant. Also, last I heard, many stocks trade on more than one exchange, and trade round-the-clock. It is good that the article describes two specific nation's rules (US and UK) but there are a multitude of other exchanges which should be covered as well. Look: the ex-div date is only important if a stock sale is transacted close to the record date. There are several actors relevant: the exchange, the brokers, and the buyer and seller. Obviously, the sale takes place between brokers on the exchange. I am guessing that any exchange will time-stamp that transaction, and hence establish the "date", but I don't know that for a fact. Keep in mind that some stocks are not traded over an exchange, hence not necessarily covered by the explanation given here. The details of establishing ownership are probably similar the world over, but again I don't know that (some countries may want to be different, just for the sake of it (eg. driving on right side of road)). This article also claims that sometime between the market close and open, that orders are reduced by the amount of dividend. I highly doubt this. If I place a sell order after market close to my broker, this claims she will reduce what price I ordered? I frankly don't know on which exchange my broker will transact the sale, do you?  What this article implies, but doesn't say, is that starting at 12 am on the ex-div date and continuing to (or through) the record date, any seller of the stock will get (will own) the dividend; it will not be given to the new owner, despite the fact that the buyer owned the shares as of the record date. (It also doesn't say where the relevant clock is.)Abitslow (talk) 20:38, 24 March 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: I do this stuff for a living, so I basically agree we could be overlooking things we take for granted, like what happens if there is no sale – although you yourself said "obviously" the one and only owner gets paid. Some stocks aren't traded on an exchange? Not in my experience, so I don't know. I've read about it in old books, but why would you do that when we have Internet brokers? I think that happens if you trade a huge block of stock, but that is out of my league; my guess is that the contract would determine the effective date, and thus who gets the dividend. The account statement I get from my broker (or any broker I know of) lists an unambiguous date for each trade. "round-the-clock"? Not the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ, and my experience is U.S. no matter how much Wikipedia wants it to be international, so there is only one date (in other places, I can only guess it depends on the time zone of the exchange). I don't have experience with placing a good-till-cancelled order after hours the day before ex-dividend (although it isn't really an order till it gets to the exchange, which would be the next day), but I do have experience with orders placed earlier being reduced. It is perhaps misleading to say that the buyer bought the stock on the ex-dividend date and owns it on the record date; it depends on how you define "bought" and "owned". For the sake of this explanation at least, if he "bought" it on the ex-dividend date, then he doesn't truly "own" it until 3 days of settlement have passed, which is after the record date. Art LaPella (talk) 03:19, 25 March 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Unnecessarily Complicated 

message: ".. for sales on or after the date, the seller is entitled to the dividend."
It is only the 'First' seller that gets the dividend.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Preroll (talk • contribs) 06:56, 4 May 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: Similarly, "For sales before this date, the dividend belongs to the new owner" (if we really meant a series of sales for the same security, the dividend belongs to the last new owner.) I made it "a sale" (singular). Art LaPella (talk) 14:11, 4 May 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Ambiguous Opening 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: do weekend dates (when markets normally closed or closed for a holiday) count when figuring T+2 for a dividend 104.35.132.8 (talk) 14:14, 27 February 2024 (UTC)
replies: text: No. That is, if the record date is Monday, then the ex-dividend date is the previous Friday, if no holidays interfere. Or if the record date is Tuesday, the ex-dividend date is Monday, again assuming no holidays. It gets worse if the record date is not a business day - then the ex-dividend date is the business day before the business day BEFORE the record date. To quote the article, "The ex-dividend date is normally the business day (2 days minus 1) before the record date." This edit may help. Art LaPella (talk) 15:16, 27 February 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  do weekend dates (when markets normally closed or closed for a holiday) count when figuring T+2 for a dividend