When am I eligible to receive a dividend?
A dividend is a portion of the company’s profits paid out to shareholders. To be eligible for a dividend, you must have purchased the shares whilst they are cum dividend. This means that the shares must be purchased before the ex-dividend date. If you purchase shares on or after the ex-dividend date, the previous owner of the shares (and not you) is entitled to the dividend.
Using the diagram above, if you wish to receive dividends, you need to purchase the stock during the cum-dividend trading period (no later than the 20th in this example) and you may then sell them any time on or after the ex-dividend date (21st onwards).
Please note: Companies are not obligated to pay a dividend and hence not all companies on the ASX will pay out a dividend. The above example is not reflective of the specific dates of any particular company. You can view a company’s dividend information including payment date on the website by logging into your account and navigating to Quotes & Research > Quotes > Dividends, or by clicking here.
