Technically, receiving a dividend payment requires only a single day of holding a stock. You must have really owned the stock on the day PRIOR to the ex-dividend date, at the closing of the stock market trade. As a stockholder prior to the ex-dividend date. You are entitled to the declared and authorized company dividend rate per share by the number of shares you own. The procedure of approving a dividend for a firm includes determining the ex-dividend date. Likewise, whenever a business declares a dividend. The public is informed of the ex-dividend date.