One of the things that many dividend investors overlook – at least at first – is the ex-dividend date. It is important that you pay attention to this date, since it can affect when you are actually entitled to a dividend.

Ex-Dividend Date

It sounds like it might be a little ominous (it’s the “ex” that does it), but the ex-dividend date is actually rather straightforward. This is the date at which you become legally entitled to the dividend. But the process of determining the ex-dividend date does take a little bit of twisting and turning.

In order to receive the dividend, you must be a shareholder of record by a specific date. This is often called the record date. We can use Pepsi (PEP) as a recent example. One July 15, 2011, PEP announced that there would be a regular dividend payout of $0.515 per share. This payout will be made on September 30, 2011, to shareholders of record on September 2. That means that, to be able to receive the PEP payout, you have to own shares at market open on September 2, which is the record date.

If you don’t own shares of a dividend stock at the time of opening on the record date, you will miss the dividend payout for that period. This is where the ex-dividend date comes in. You should realize that it takes time to process transactions. It takes two days for you to become the legal owner of shares, as opposed to being the practical owner. So, if you buy shares of PEP on September 1, you won’t be a legal owner in time to be a shareholder of record. You need to buy your PEP shares on August 31, 2011, if you want the PEP dividend payout on September 30.

So, basically, the ex-dividend date is two days before the record date. If you want to be able to get in on the next payout, or if you want to increase your payout by purchasing more shares, you need to make your dividend stock purchase by the ex-dividend date.

Bottom Line

When companies release press releases about their dividend announcements, you won’t see mention of the ex-dividend date. However, this is a very important date. If you want to be entitled to receive the next payout, you need to know the ex-dividend date. Luckily, figuring it out is fairly simple: Just make sure you buy your shares at least two business days prior to the record date.

There have been some ex-dividends this week, as well. Today, ex-dividends are expected from JPM, CBK, IDCC, and CLI. The party doesn’t stop, though. There will be more stocks going ex-dividend this coming Tuesday, July 5:

• CSCO: With the ex-dividend announced, when the market closes today, shareholders will be eligible for 6 cents per share on Tuesday. CSCO hasn’t been doing so well this year, with shares down on the year so far.
• DFS: With a dividend yield of 0.9%, DFS isn’t exactly a dividend superstar. However, it is in line with many of the financial companies that were hit hard by the financial crisis, and whose dividends have yet to recover. The ex-dividend of 6 cents per share is expected on Tuesday. So far, though, DFS is up more than 44% this year.
• ABM: The dividend of 14 cents per share is offered for ABM Industries on Tuesday, for those who own stock at the end of today. As of yesterday’s close, ABM was down more than 11% on the year. Service industry companies are struggling a bit, and ABM is no exception.
• KRG: Finally, Kite Realty Group announced that it will be going ex-dividend on Tuesday as well, with 6 cents per share. As the housing market continues to struggle, shares are down almost 8% this year.

The announcement of an ex-dividend can sometimes spur some buying in some investors, who wish to take part in the special earnings.

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4. Playing With Ex-Dividend Date: The Dividend Guy offers you a tutorial on making money by playing with the ex-dividend date of your investment choice. It’s a great primer on an interesting tool that can be used to your advantage.
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Two popular stocks are going ex-dividend this month that are worth Noting. Verizon and AT&T. Verizon’s net income growth rate has been negative for the last 3 years but that may change once the iPhone becomes available on their network.

If you are interested in learning more about each stock listed on this page sign up to be a premium member to get access to our Ex-Dividend Ratings. We cover the payout ratio, dividend growth rate, income growth and industry rank.

Company	Symbol	Ex Date	Yield	DSO Rating
United Bancorp	UBCP	1-Sep	6.93%	Join
Potlatch	PCH	1-Sep	6.14%	Join
Psychemedics	PMD	1-Sep	5.83%	Join
American Nat Bankshares	AMNB	1-Sep	4.94%	Join
Espy Man & Elec	ESP	1-Sep	4.62%	Join
Chemical Financial	CHFC	1-Sep	4.19%	Join
Centurytel Inc.	CTL	2-Sep	8.05%	Join
Earthlink, Inc.	ELNK	2-Sep	7.54%	Join
Penn Wood Bancorp	PWOD	2-Sep	6.21%	Join
Weingarten Realty	WRI	3-Sep	5.31%	Join
Frontier Communications	FTR	7-Sep	9.87%	Join
Barnes & Noble	BKS	7-Sep	6.82%	Join
Regal Entertainment Gp	RGC	7-Sep	5.89%	Join
Ameren Corp	AEE	7-Sep	5.49%	Join
Univest Corp of Penn	UVSP	7-Sep	5.06%	Join
Flushing Financial Corp	FFIC	7-Sep	4.69%	Join
Public Service En Group	PEG	7-Sep	4.26%	Join
TICC Capital Corp	TICC	8-Sep	10.03%	Join
Reynolds American	RAI	8-Sep	6.37%	Join
NL Industries	NL	8-Sep	6.06%	Join
Pepco Holdings	POM	8-Sep	6.03%	Join
Qwest	Q	8-Sep	5.65%	Join
Telus Corp	TU	8-Sep	4.97%	Join
SCANA Corp.	SCG	8-Sep	4.90%	Join
Laclede Group	LG	8-Sep	4.80%	Join
H&R Block	HRB	8-Sep	4.49%	Join
Rayonier	RYN	8-Sep	4.28%	Join
Kimberly-Clark	KMB	8-Sep	4.08%	Join
State Auto Financial Corp	STFC	9-Sep	4.32%	Join
Medical Properties Trust	MPW	10-Sep	8.51%	Join
Ntelos Holdings Corp	NTLS	10-Sep	6.98%	Join
Washington REIT	WRE	10-Sep	5.68%	Join
Federal Signal	FSS	10-Sep	4.76%	Join
BancorpSouth	BXS	13-Sep	6.96%	Join
BCE Inc.	BCE	13-Sep	5.83%	Join
Leggett & Platt	LEG	13-Sep	5.66%	Join
World Wrestling Ent	WWE	13-Sep	10.60%	Join
Equity One	EQY	13-Sep	5.61%	Join
Valley National Bancorp	VLY	13-Sep	5.58%	Join
Cheviot Financial Corp	CHEV	13-Sep	5.30%	Join
SWS Group	SWS	13-Sep	4.95%	Join
Community Trust Bancorp	CTBI	13-Sep	4.87%	Join
Northwestern Corporation	NWE	13-Sep	4.84%	Join
Harleysville Group	HGIC	13-Sep	4.63%	Join
Westwood Holdings	WHG	13-Sep	4.48%	Join
Merck	MRK	13-Sep	4.41%	Join
NYSE Euronext	NYX	13-Sep	4.38%	Join
GATX Corp	GMT	13-Sep	4.32%	Join
Sterling Bancorp	STL	13-Sep	4.25%	Join
Community Bank	CBU	13-Sep	4.23%	Join
Porter Bancorp	PBIB	13-Sep	4.09%	Join
Mercury General	MCY	14-Sep	6.09%	Join
Fidelity National Financial	FNF	14-Sep	4.98%	Join
First Capital	FCAP	14-Sep	4.98%	Join
UIL Holdings	UIL	15-Sep	6.63%	Join
Warwick Valley Telephone	WWVY	16-Sep	6.77%	Join
DTE Energy	DTE	16-Sep	4.85%	Join
Gladstone Investment	GAIN	20-Sep	8.42%	Join
Gladstone Capital	GLAD	20-Sep	8.06%	Join
Eni	E	20-Sep	7.24%	Join
Cincinnati Financial	CINF	20-Sep	5.97%	Join
Telefonos de Mexico	TMX	20-Sep	4.74%	Join
Navios Maritime	NM	20-Sep	4.42%	Join
Portland General Electric	POR	22-Sep	5.26%	Join
Kimball International	KBALB	22-Sep	4.08%	Join
Windstream Corp	WIN	28-Sep	8.94%	Join
Getty Realty Corp	GTY	28-Sep	7.93%	Join
B & G Foods	BGS	28-Sep	6.37%	Join
National Health Investors	NHI	28-Sep	5.93%	Join
Arthur Gallagher	AJG	28-Sep	5.24%	Join
Winthrop Realty Trust	FUR	28-Sep	5.19%	Join
TransCanada Corp	TRP	28-Sep	4.43%	Join
Nicor	GAS	28-Sep	4.39%	Join
Koss Corp	KOSS	28-Sep	4.36%	Join
Superior Industries	SUP	29-Sep	4.37%	Join

]]> http://www.dividendstocksonline.com/2010/08/september-ex-dividend-dates-2010/feed/ 2 http://www.dividendstocksonline.com/2009/12/january-ex-dividend-dates-2010/ http://www.dividendstocksonline.com/2009/12/january-ex-dividend-dates-2010/#comments Wed, 30 Dec 2009 21:42:06 +0000 dividends http://www.dividendstocksonline.com/?p=2113 Stocks that yield 5% or higher that have their ex-dividend date in January of 2010. This list does not include all stocks going ex-dividend in January. Financial data listed on this page is not exact and will change from day to day. Information is estimate only.

Ex-Dividend.com provides dividend information for the NYSE, NASDAQ and AMEX.

Stocks that yield 4% or more that have an ex-dividend date in October 2008.