Dividend Basics and Who's Going Ex in Early July

I've received questions recently about all the stock dividend dates, so I thought I would clarify them for you. In addition, for those who are interested in 'buying dividends', I have listed the stocks going ex-dividend during the first two weeks of July. Here's what each of the dividend dates mean.

Declaration date: the day that the company declares that there is going to be an upcoming dividend.

Ex-dividend date: the day on which if you buy the stock, you would not be entitled to that particular dividend; or the first day on which a shareholder can sell the shares and still be entitled to the dividend.

Record date: the day when you must be on the company's books as a shareholder to receive the dividend. The ex-dividend date is normally set for stocks two business days before the record date.

Payment date: the day on which the dividend payment is actually made, which can be as long at two months after the ex date.

Here are a list of stocks going ex-dividend during the first two weeks of July.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) 7/1/2008 3.93% PE: 10.4263 PEG: 1.203 .

SYSCO Corporation (SYY) 7/1/2008 2.99% PE: 16.8408 PEG: 1.2955 .

Tate & Lyle PLC (TATYY) 7/1/2008 3.32% PE: 17.991 PEG: 2.9018 .

Bristol Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) 7/2/2008 6.22% PE: 19.4786 PEG: 2.0873 .

Gentex Corporation (GNTX) 7/3/2008 2.60% PE: 18.9321 PEG: 1.0716 .

Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) 7/7/2008 3.58% PE: 12.1352 PEG: 1.2575 .

Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. (ETH) 7/8/2008 3.29% PE: 12.02 PEG: 1.1181 .

Lincoln National Corporation (LNC) 7/8/2008 3.34% PE: 11.0073 PEG: 1.1007 .

Progress Energy, Inc. (PGN) 7/8/2008 5.74% PE: 15.8925 PEG: 2.6695 .

Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) 7/8/2008 4.71% PE: 18.6114 PEG: 2.1128 .

West Coast Bancorp (WCBO) 7/9/2008 5.42% PE: 14.9482 PEG: 1.3548 .

Whole Foods Market, Inc. (WFMI) 7/9/2008 3.01% PE: 23.0432 PEG: 1.2602 .

Gevity HR, Inc. (GVHR) 7/11/2008 3.44% PE: 24.4908 PEG: 2.7212 .

Lithia Motors, Inc. (LAD) 7/11/2008 9.21% PE: 7.8222 PEG: 0.6902 .

Oxford Industries, Inc. (OXM) 7/11/2008 3.27% PE: 13.0653 PEG: 1.0594 .

Shaw Communications Inc. (SJR) 7/11/2008 3.61% PE: 22.4132 PEG: 1.293 .

Abbott Laboratories (ABT) 7/11/2008 2.66% PE: 21.9705 PEG: 1.8529 .

The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. (BONT) 7/11/2008 3.13% PE: 19.9036 PEG: 1.1058 .

Corus Entertainment Inc. (CJR) 7/11/2008 3.14% PE: 13.1121 PEG: 0.9043 .

McGrath RentCorp (MGRC) 7/14/2008 3.13% PE: 14.8498 PEG: 0.9281 .

Quaker Chemical Corporation (KWR) 7/15/2008 3.02% PE: 18.1866 PEG: 1.0104 .

CBRL Group, Inc. (CBRL) 7/16/2008 2.70% PE: 8.8124 PEG: 0.8474 .

Author doesn't own any of the above.

By Fred Fuld at Stockerblog.com