Corporate actions
Payment date
The date a declared dividend is actually paid to shareholders.
How it works
It usually falls several weeks after the record date. The gap is administrative — the company needs time to process the register — and it has no effect on who is entitled.
Entitlement is fixed on the ex-dividend date. Selling between the ex-date and the payment date still leaves you receiving the dividend, because you owned the shares when it mattered.
Where it misleads people
Portfolio trackers that record income on the payment date rather than the ex-date will misstate returns around a year end, because the entitlement and the cash fall in different periods.
Related terms
- Ex-dividend dateThe first day a share trades without the right to the next dividend.
- Record dateThe date on which a company checks its register to see who is entitled to a dividend.
- DividendA cash payment a company makes to its shareholders out of its profits.
- SettlementThe process of actually exchanging cash for securities after a trade is agreed.
More in Corporate actions
All 26 Corporate actions terms · The full glossary, 433 terms
Educational reference only. Nothing here is investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell anything, and tax treatment depends on your own circumstances and the country you are in.