The specific calendar date on which corporate dividends are paid varies entirely depending on the individual company, its board of directors' declarations, and the chosen financial schedule. Typically, a company announces a dividend along with an ex-dividend date, a record date, and a designated payment date, which usually falls anywhere from two to four weeks after the record cutoff. To be eligible to receive the dividend on the designated payment date, an investor must purchase and own the stock prior to the ex-dividend date. Because every publicly traded corporation sets its own custom corporate action timeline, checking the specific investor relations calendar for each company is necessary to identify exact payment dates.