NA.PR.K / NA.PR.L Dividend Timing

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.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.