The Ex-Date is for a stock indicates the last date of the month where a dividend is payable. It is two days before the record date.
If an investor buys a stock before the ex-date, they are entitled to the dividend that the stock is scheduled to pay that month. If the investor buys on or after the ex-date, then they will not receive the dividend payment for that month - the seller does.
When checking Google Finance or a newspaper for a stock quote, the ex-date is typically marked with a lowercase “x.”
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