The ins and outs … of key dividend dates

Article Excerpt

Here are a number of key dates related to the payment of dividends. The declaration date: Several weeks in advance of a dividend payment, a company’s board of directors sets the amount and timing of the proposed payment. The date of that announcement is known as the declaration date. The payable date: The payable date is the date set by the company’s board of directors for the dividend to be paid out to shareholders. The record date: Only shareholders who hold the shares before the payable date will receive the dividend payment. That record date can be set for any number of weeks before the payable date. The ex-dividend date: Two business days before the record date, the shares begin to trade without their dividend. This date is the ex-dividend date. If you buy a dividend-paying stock one day or more before the ex-dividend date, you will still get the dividend. That’s when a stock is said to trade “cum-dividend.” If you buy on the ex-dividend date or…