When do companies distribute their dividends. Is it a set day of the year?

Question:

We own several stocks and have seen in the newspaper certain companies announcing their cents per share of dividends. However, it seems like it takes forever (like months and months) from that announcement to actually have the dividends deposited into our account. Is there a set time that a company has to distribute the dividends?

Answer:
Typically companies distribute their dividends quarterly. Their is a date of record when the board of directors announces that the will pay a divident. Then there is a payment date of the dividend which is usually posted with the date of record in the Wall Street Journal. That is when the company pays its dividend. It could be 45 days or more from the date of record. If you have any questions about the stocks that you own you could call the investor relations people and they should give you a better idea of when and how much you should be receiving.

It is up to the board of directors when and if a dividend is paid.
Once the board declares a dividend payout, they then set a date that it will be paid.

Yes, it national Dividend distribution day! hehehehe

Look here:

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/03/...

When do companies distribute their dividends. Is it a set day of the year?

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