The following statement comes from the report ARD Jahrhundertcoup: Angriff auf Europas Steuerzahler

@26:45 „Ich verstehe das so, dass das ein steuergetriebenes Geschäft um den Dividendenstichtag ist.“

LEO has three possible translations for Dividendenstichtag:
• declaration date [FINAN.]
• dividend ex-date [FINAN.]
• record date [FINAN.]

Is Dividendenstichtag really such a non-specific date? I ask because the three translations in LEO reflect three very different dates, at least for US stocks.

Using Microsoft's upcoming dividend payment to illustrate the various dates:
1. declaration date 09/18/2018 (18.9.2018) 
2. dividend ex-date 11/14/2018 (14.11.2018) (aka ex-dividend date) 
3. record date 11/15/2018 (15.11.2018) 
4. payment date 12/13/2018 (13.12.2018) (fourth date given for the sake of completeness) 

The declaration date is usually anywhere from a few weeks to months before the dividend is actually paid. The ex-dividend date / dividend ex-date is the day on which the amount of the previously declared dividend is subtracted from the stock price on the stock exchange; the record date, the day after the ex-dividend date, is the date on which a stockholder must be an owner of record in order to eventually collect the dividend payment. It is not possible to buy a stock on the ex-dividend date at the reduced price (price minus dividend) and still collect the dividend when it is eventually paid. The stock purchase does not settle until two days after the trade date, so the buyer would not be the owner of record until the day after the record date. The owner of record on the record date would still be the seller, who would eventually collect the dividend for a stock said seller no longer owns.


Another questionable item in LEO is ex-dividend date [FINAN.], translated as either Ex-Tag or Tag der Dividendenzahlung. These two dates would never be the same for US stocks.


The LEO entries for the dates associated with dividends need work. I still have no clear idea what is meant by Dividendenstichtag. Any financial experts out there who could help clear up the confusion?