What is the ex-dividend date?
📅 To receive dividends from a company, you need to buy shares before the ex-dividend date. This means you must own the shares before that date arrives.
Practical example with IBM
🕵️♂️ IBM’s ex-dividend date was November 9, 2021. If you wanted to get the dividend, you had to buy the shares before the market closed on November 8, 2021 and hold them until the next day, November 9.
What if you sell the shares on November 9?
No worries—you still receive the dividend because you owned the shares on the ex-dividend date.
How are dividends calculated?
Use this simple formula:
iniCopiarEditarDividends = Number of shares × Dividend per share − Taxes
Rounding small dividends
💵 If the dividend amount per share is less than 1 cent (0.01 USD), rounding works like this:
0.007 USD → 0.01 USD
0.003 USD → 0 USD (zero)
This means if your dividend amount is very small, you might not receive anything. Keep this in mind when deciding how much to invest!
Taxes on dividends
🏛️ For U.S. stocks, a 30% tax applies to the dividends you receive.
When are dividends paid?
⏳ Dividends are usually paid on or a few days after the ex-dividend date.
Where to find ex-dividend dates?
🔍 You can find ex-dividend dates under the “Information” tab below the chart for each stock or instrument.
