When are stock dividends paid out?

When the Board of Directors decides to pay dividends, they’ll share all the important details: the dividend amount, the record date, and the payment date. This announcement is called the declaration date.

The record date is the cutoff day—you need to be on the company’s list of shareholders by then to get the dividend.

The payment date is when the company actually pays out the dividend to those shareholders who owned the stock before the ex-dividend date (which is the first trading day when new buyers aren’t eligible for the dividend).

Hope that helps clear things up!