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Ex-dividend is the interval between the announcement and the payment of the next dividend. Shareholders must own the stock prior to the ex-dividend date, the date on which the stock goes "ex-dividend", in order to be paid the dividend for the prior period.

On the ex-dividend date the price of the stock is reduced by the amount of the dividend. Because of this, the amount of change from the prior day shown in the newspaper listings may not be the same as the difference between today's close and yesterday's close. For example, lets assume that stock XYZ closed yesterday at 50.00. Today the stock went ex-dividend with a dividend of $1.00 and closed at 49.50. The amount of change in the newspaper will be shown as +0.50, because the prior day's price has been corrected to 49.00 to reflect the $1.00 dividend

For more information see Dividends, Distributions, and Stock Splits.

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