Those fun-loving directors at the National Bank! Always joking around!
I looked up their Dividend Calendar today in order to update the HIMIPref™ database and there is little, if any, consideration shown for consistency in dividend declaration.
I’ll reproduce their table here:
SHARES |
BOARD APPROVAL |
RECORD DATE |
EX-DIVIDEND DATE |
DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE |
Common |
2005-12-08 |
2005-12-29 |
2005-12-23 |
2006-02-01 |
Series 15 |
2005-12-08 |
2006-01-13 |
2006-01-11 |
2006-02-15 |
Series 16 |
2005-12-08 |
2006-01-13 |
2006-01-11 |
2006-02-15 |
Common |
2006-03-02 |
2006-03-30 |
2006-03-28 |
2006-05-01 |
Series 15 |
2006-03-02 |
2006-04-17 |
2006-04-12 |
2006-05-15 |
Séries 16 |
2006-03-02 |
2006-04-17 |
2006-04-12 |
2006-05-15 |
Common |
2006-05-25 |
2006-06-22 |
2006-06-20 |
2006-08-01 |
Series 15 |
2006-05-25 |
2006-07-07 |
2006-07-05 |
2006-08-15 |
Series 16 |
2006-05-25 |
2006-07-07 |
2006-07-05 |
2006-08-15 |
Common |
2006-08-31 |
2006-09-28 |
2006-09-26 |
2006-11-01 |
Series 15 |
2006-08-31 |
2006-10-13 |
2006-10-11 |
2006-11-15 |
Series 16 |
2006-08-31 |
2006-10-13 |
2006-10-11 |
2006-11-15 |
Just because the ex-Date was on July 5 doesn’t mean that the October ex-Date will be anywhere near the 5th! Be careful! When I look at the past 14 dividends for NA.PR.K (not including the next one) I get the following frequency of ex-date-day-of-the-month:
Ex-Date Day of Month | Frequency |
4 | 1 |
5 | 3 |
6 | 3 |
7 | 3 |
8 | 1 |
9 | 1 |
11 | 1 |
12 | 1 |
The 11th and 12th are novel ex-dates, having been introduced only this year.
Yes, I know, it’s a small point. But I see strange trades going through all the time, with some poor retail guy putting through a trade where it’s obvious he hasn’t paid any attention to the ex-date. And by me, when somebody is kind enough to trade your debt on the secondary market, you try to keep things simple for them.