After a share has been marked ex-dividend, and before the payment date, shares can be bought with the dividend if you can find a counterparty who will sell them to you in this manner.

Equally shares can be bought and sold ahead of the ex-dividend date, "Special Ex" ie without the dividend.

Cum-dividend (CD) comes before Ex-dividend (XD). A stock is said to be CD indicates that the company is paying out dividend in the near future which serves like a preempt notice to investors. The company would have announced the amount of dividend to be paid out but has yet to. If the shareholder sells a CD stock, he/she is not entitled to the dividend.

There has to be a cut off date that the company has to set, so as to confirm the list of shareholders to receive dividend. When the list is finalized, the stock is said to go XD. Once XD status is declared, the shareholder who sells his/her shares will still be entitled the dividends, while the new owner will not.

The dividend is 97.

The dividend is 97.

The dividend is 97.

The dividend is 97.

He thought it was lunch money

The ex-dividend date is the day after which all shares bought and sold no longer come attached with the right to be paid the most recently declared dividend. This is an important date for any company that has many stockholders, including those that trade on exchanges, as it makes reconciliation of who is to be paid the dividend easier. Prior to this date, the stock is said to be cum dividend ('with dividend'): existing holders of the stock and anyone who buys it will receive the dividend, whereas any holders selling the stock lose their right to the dividend. On and after this date the stock becomes ex dividend: existing holders of the stock will receive the dividend even if they now sell the stock, whereas anyone who now buys the stock now will not receive the dividend.

It is relatively common for a stock's price to decrease on the ex-dividend date by an amount roughly equal to the dividend paid. This reflects the decrease in the company's assets resulting from the declaration of the dividend. However it must be emphasised that there is no direct link between the price and the dividend, this price movement is simply a result of market action.

To sum up the date a dividend is paid is not the date a stock usually goes down but rather the date that the stock purchase no longer includes the dividend. This in no way is a guarentee a stock could be up considerably that day based on market conditions and a number of other things even with the downward pressure of no longer being able to receive that dividend.