September Stock Talk III

If the Board declares a dividend, it will announce that the dividend (of a set amount) will be paid to shareholders of record as of the RECORD DATE and will be paid or distributed on the DISTRIBUTION DATE (sometimes called the Payable Date).Check the company website or the latest news from the company using tools such as yahoo finance.

Before we begin the discussion of dates and date cutoffs, it's important to note that three-day settlements (T+3) became effective 7 June 1995. In other words, the SEC's T+3 rule states that all stock trades must be settled within 3 business days.

In order to be a shareholder of record on the RECORD DATE you must own the shares on that date (when the books close for that day). Since virtually all stock trades by brokers on exchanges are settled in 3 (business) days, you must buy the shares at least 3 days before the RECORD DATE in order to be the shareholder of record on the RECORD DATE. So the (RECORD DATE - 3 days) is the day that the shareholder of record needs to own the stock to collect the dividend. He can sell it the very next day and still get the dividend.

If you bought it at least 3 business days before the RECORD date and still owned it at the end of the RECORD DATE, you get the dividend. (Even if you ask your broker to sell it the day after the (RECORD DATE - 3 days), it will not have settled until after the RECORD DATE so you will own it on the RECORD DATE.)

So someone who buys the stock on the (RECORD DATE - 2 days) does not get the dividend. A stock paying a 50c quarterly dividend might well be expected to trade for 50c less on that date, all things being equal. In other words, it trades for its previous price, EXcept for the DIVidend. So the (RECORD DATE - 2 days) is often called the EX-DIV date. In the financial listings, that is indicated by an x.

On the DISTRIBUTION DATE shareholders of record on the RECORD date will get the dividend. If you own the shares yourself, the company will mail you a check. If you participate in a DRIP (Dividend ReInvestment Plan, see article on DRIPs elsewhere in this FAQ) and elect to reinvest the dividend, you will have the dividend credited to your DRIP account and purchase shares, and if your stock is held by your broker for you, the broker will receive the dividend from the company and credit it to your account.

Dividends on preferred stock work very much like common stock, except they are much more predictable.