A bit over a month ago, May 28 2013 to be exact, I put in an order to buy some Cineplex shares for our Investor’s Edge account. I thought that I had made the purchase the day before the stock went ex-dividend. The sale settled on May 31 as expected. Then I started waiting for the end of June and the first monthly dividend payment. I wondered exactly when I would see my dividend payment appear in my CIBC brokerage account.
Why Test Using Cineplex?
Cineplex was a good stock for this test because it pays a dividend each month to shareholders on record on a date near the end of the previous month. There are quite a few companies that pay dividends monthly which can make a useful income stream for investors as I described in Using Dividend Paying Stocks to Create Monthly Income.
The fact that Cineplex has gone up over $2 a share since we bought was an unplanned but not unexpected bonus. Monsters U and Despicable Me, too, anyone?!
When was Cineplex Due to Pay?
According to their press release, Cineplex said it would pay “$0.12 per share for the month of May 2013, payable on June 28, 2013, to shareholders of record on May 31, 2013.”
So in theory since our shares settled on May 31, we should have received a dividend payment on June 28, 2013.
With BMO InvestorLine the actual dividend payment usually lands in my cash account one day after it was payable. It shows up in the transaction history back dated to the previous day, as I described in What is in the Transaction History for a BMO InvestorLine Account and What Should I Watch Out for?
Did the Payment Appear in my Transaction History on June 28? 29? 30? Canada Day?
No.
I wasn’t surprised that the dividend payment did not appear in my CIBC brokerage account or in the Investor’s Edge transaction history on Friday June 28.
I wasn’t even particularly surprised that it didn’t show up on Saturday or Sunday. And then Monday was Canada Day.
(Dividend transactions do appear in our InvestorLine accounts on the weekend, though, back dated to the proper date.)
I gave it one last check very early Tuesday July 2. Still nothing.
That’s when I decided I must have somehow missed the Date of Record. Maybe a settlement date of May 31 did not equal a Record Date of May 31. Although I had thought it did.
When Did I Receive the Dividend?
Fast forward to Monday July 8. Refreshed after a few days in northern south eastern Ontario paddling among the muskrats and loons, I sat back down in front of a computer. Logging in to our CIBC account, I was surprised to find we DID receive the payment for the May Cineplex dividend.
How Does the Dividend Show Up in the CIBC Investor’s Edge Transaction History?
The transaction history reports:
- In the Date column
- T July 2: I believe that means transaction date, based on other items.
- S July 2: Settlement date. Ditto.
- In the Curr column
CAD - In the Type column
Dividend - In the Description column
Cash div on 100 shares rec 05/31/13 pay 06/30/13 - In the Symbol column
CGX:CDN - In the Quantity column
nothing was reported - In the Price column
nothing was reported - In the Amount column
$12.00
I found the dates a bit confusing.
- Rec does not mean Received. It means Date of Record, May 31, 2013.
- Pay, though, is not listed as Friday June 28 per the press release, but as Sunday June 30. I’m not sure why it says that.
- July 2 is apparently when the money was put into our cash account. I didn’t see it there first thing on the 2, but it may have appeared later that day or before the start of trading on July 3.
Possibly the June 30 date was used simply because it is the last day of the month. The Cineplex dividend is usually payable the last day of the month if that day is a business day. If not, they usually move it up to the last business day.
A Probable Explanation for the Delay in Dividend Payment
I suspect the cause of the delayed dividend payment was confusion. This was the first dividend earned by this stock since we purchased it. I expect that second and subsequent dividend payments will be credited much more quickly to our account.
Testing, Testing 1, 2, 3
I guess I’ll have to keep an eye on the account and see what happens this month.
According to the Cineplex Press Release, the June dividend payable to owners on record on June 28, 2013 is payable on July 31, 2013. Since the 31 is a Wednesday, the dividend could appear on the 31, or on August 1 or later.
Related Reading
- How Can I Look Up What I Did, When I Did It and for How Much in a CIBC Investor’s Edge Account?
- Review the Dividend, Yield and Ex-Dividend Date for Shares Using CIBC Investor’s Edge
- When Will I Get My Dividends in my BMO InvestorLine and CIBC Investor’s Edge Accounts: Take 2
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When does Investor’s Edge report your dividends? Does it happen the day of, the day after, or several days after the actual payment date? Please share your experiences with a comment.