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Ex-dividend date vs record date vs payment date
Four dates govern every dividend. Only one of them decides whether you're entitled to the payout — and it's not the one most people expect.
The four dates, in order
- Declaration date — the day the company's board announces the dividend: the amount, and the record and payment dates.
- Ex-dividend date (ex-date) — the cut-off. To receive the dividend you must own the shares before this date. Buy on the ex-date or later and the dividend goes to the seller, not you.
- Record date — the day the company checks its books to see who the registered shareholders are. Those holders get the dividend.
- Payment date — the day the cash actually lands in shareholders' accounts, often weeks after the ex-date.
Which date actually matters?
For deciding whether you get the dividend, the one that matters is the ex-dividend date. It's the ownership cut-off, and it's also the day the share price adjusts down by about the dividend. The record date and payment date are administrative — you don't need to do anything on them.
How the ex-date relates to the record date
The ex-date and record date are set by stock-settlement timing. Under the "T+1" settlement standard used in US markets since 2024, a trade settles one business day after it executes. As a result, the ex-dividend date and the record date now generally fall on the same day — to be a holder of record on the record date, you must have bought before the ex-date. (Under the older T+2 rules, the ex-date sat one business day before the record date, which is why a lot of older explanations describe them as different days.)
A worked example
Suppose a company declares a dividend on 1 May, with an ex-date of 20 May and a payment date of 15 June. If you buy the stock on 19 May, you own it before the ex-date, you'll be on the books on the record date, and you'll be paid on 15 June. If you buy on 20 May (the ex-date), you're too late for this dividend — the seller you bought from keeps it — though you'd be in line for the next one.
The common confusion
The most frequent mistake is assuming you need to hold until the payment date, or that buying on the record date qualifies you. Neither is true. Ownership is locked in by the ex-date; after that you can sell and still receive the dividend. That's the basis of the dividend capture strategy.
Want to know a stock's next ex-date before it's announced? See the predicted ex-dividend calendar, or read how the predictions work. This is educational information, not financial advice.