How are dividends paid?
Editorial Staff, reviewed November 2, 2026
Dividends are paid in cash to your brokerage account on the pay date, with no action from you. Across the 2,674 payments that went ex in the last 30 days on our data, the median gap from ex-dividend date to pay date was 3 days.
The four dates, in order
- The declaration date is when the board announces the amount and the other dates.
- The ex-dividend date is the cutoff: buy before it to receive the payment. FINRA Rule 11140 makes this the record date itself when that is a business day, for ordinary dividends under 25% of the share's value.
- The record date is when the company checks who its shareholders are.
- The pay date is when the cash goes out.
A real dividend, step by step
Coca-Cola's next dividend is $0.53 a share, with an ex-date of Dec 1, 2026 and a pay date of Dec 15, 2026. If you own 100 shares before that ex-date, you receive $53.00 on Dec 15, 2026, even if you sell on the ex-date itself. Someone who buys on the ex-date gets nothing from this payment.
Where the money goes
The payment arrives as cash in the brokerage account that holds the shares. If you have a dividend reinvestment plan turned on for that holding, the cash buys more shares instead. The IRS treats a reinvested dividend as income all the same, so reinvesting doesn't delay the tax in a taxable account.
Payers send a Form 1099-DIV for distributions of at least $10, and you report ordinary dividends on Schedule B when they total more than $1,500 in a year.
How often dividends are paid
| Schedule | Securities on our record |
|---|---|
| Weekly | 127 |
| Monthly | 1,638 |
| Quarterly | 3,460 |
| Semi-annual | 404 |
| Annual | 544 |
To see the dates for anything you hold, search it above or browse the ex-dividend calendar. To see your own holdings month by month, add them to My dividends.
What happens to the share price
A share that pays out cash is worth that much less, so prices tend to open lower by about the dividend on the ex-date, though the market's other moves that day can hide it. That is why buying just before the ex-date isn't free money: you receive the dividend and own a share priced without it, and the payment is taxable.
Sources
Checked on November 2, 2026. Tax rules and fund rules change, so check the current version before you act.
Related dividend guides
This is general education and not tax or investment advice. Securities named here illustrate the arithmetic and are not suggestions. See the disclaimer.