The ex-dividend date (coinciding with the reinvestment date for shares held subject to a dividend reinvestment plan) is an investment term involving the timing of payment of dividends on stocks of corporations, income trusts, and other financial holdings, both publicly and privately held. The ex-date or ex-dividend date represents the date on or after which a security is traded without a previously declared dividend or distribution. The opening price on the ex-dividend date, in comparison to the previous closing price, can be expected to decrease by the amount of the dividend, although this change may be obscured by other influences on the stock's value.
A person purchasing a stock before its ex-dividend date, and holding the position before the market opens on the ex-dividend date, is entitled to the dividend. A person purchasing a stock on its ex-dividend date or after will not receive the current dividend payment.
To determine the ultimate eligibility of a dividend or distribution, the record date, not the ex-date, is relevant. Each shareholder entered in the shareholders' register at the record date is entitled to a dividend. Usually, the person owning the stock at the end of the trading day one business day before the ex-date is also the person registered in the shareholders register on the record date, because companies set the ex-date and record date of the dividend in line with the settlement cycle of the security. Most developed financial markets such as the USA, UK, Germany, France, etc. use a settlement cycle of T+2 for stocks. As a result, companies in these markets set the ex-date one day before the record date of the dividend (example: ex-date Wednesday, record date Thursday: a security purchased on Tuesday will settle on Thursday; a person who bought the security on Tuesday bought one day before the ex-date and will be registered as shareholder on Thursday and hence be entitled to the dividend).
Background
Many publicly traded companies, and some privately held ones, provide a dividend feature to their stock. Stock shares trade fluidly on public markets, such that the state of share ownership differs at the end of each trading day, and any given share may have a series of various owners over time. When declaring a dividend, a company will designate a record date for the dividend. The practical rules of the financial system determine precisely one of the owners to receive the dividend payment, namely the owner of record who owned the share(s) at the end of the trading day on the record date. The company thus resolves payment to the share owner identified on the company's share register as of the record date. Since the process of settlement involves some days of delay, stock exchanges set an earlier date, known as the ex-dividend date (typically the business day prior to the record date) to synchronize the time for this processing. Thus the key date for a stock purchase is the ex-dividend date: a purchase on that date (or after) will be ex (outside, without right to) the dividend.
If, for whatever reason, a share transfer prior to the ex-dividend date is not recorded on the register in time, the seller is obligated to repay the dividend to the buyer when he receives it.
In the United States, the IRS defines the ex-dividend date thus: "The ex-dividend date is the first date following the declaration of a dividend on which the purchaser of a stock is not entitled to receive the next dividend payment." The London Stock Exchange defines the term "ex" as "when a stock or dividend is issued by a company it is based upon an 'on register' or 'record date'. However, to create a level playing field when shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange during this benefit period an 'ex' date is set. Before this 'ex' date if shares are sold the selling party will need to pass on the benefit or dividend to the buying party."
Adjustment of Standing Orders
On some markets, after the close of business on the day before the ex-dividend date and before the market opens on the ex-dividend date, all open good-until-canceled limit, stop, and stop limit orders are automatically reduced by the amount of the dividend, except for orders that the customer indicated "do not reduce." This is done because the dividend payout will decrease the value of the company, as it comes directly from the company's reserves. At the market opening on the ex-dividend date, the stock will trade at a lower price, adjusted for the amount of the dividend paid. If a corporation is distributing something other than a cash dividend, such as rights or warrants, then the relevant date is called an ex rights date, or ex warrants date, etc.