Ex-dividend date

The ex-dividend date, also known as the reinvestment date, is a finance or investment term related to the payment of dividends.Many publicly-traded companies pay dividends to their stockholders. The question of who should be paid dividends becomes complex, as these companies are continually being traded and the composition of their shareholders therefore changes each day. In order to settle this question, companies designate a date, known as the record date. Dividends are paid to the list of shareholders who hold stock on the record date. The process is further complicated by the fact that it takes time for a stock purchase to "clear" or "settle". In order to allow time for this processing, stock exchanges set a date — generally two business days prior to the record date — known as the ex-dividend date. Someone who purchases the stock on or after the ex-dividend date will not receive the dividend, as the purchase will not "settle" by the record date, and therefore the buyer will not be on the list of shareholders to which the company pays its dividends.
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The first day of trading when the seller, rather than the buyer, of a stock will be entitled to the most recently announced dividend payment. This date set by the N.Y.S.E. (and generally followed on other US exchanges) is currently two business days before the record date. A stock that has gone ex-dividend is marked with an x in newspaper listings on that date.