A dividend is a cash payment to shareholders as a reward for investing in company stock or equity shares. Ex-dividend means a company’s dividend allocations have been specified. The ex-dividend date or “ex-date” is usually one business day before the record date.

Investors who purchase a stock on its ex-dividend date or after will not receive the next dividend payment. Instead, the seller gets the dividend. Investors only get dividends if they buy the stock before the ex-dividend date.