← Glossary
Ex-dividend date
The cut-off date for a dividend: you must own the share before it to be paid.
If you buy on the ex-dividend date or later, the seller receives the coming dividend, not you. If you owned the share before it, you are paid even if you sell on the ex-date.
On that day the price typically opens lower by about the amount of the dividend, because the share no longer carries it.