In the Schweser dividend readings, it says “in practice we would calculate the PV from the ex-dividend date, but on the thexam use payment date unless ex-dividend date is stated” Perhaps i’m just getting these terms mixed up, but wouldnt it always be more accurate to calculate from the payment date?
The ex-dividend date is the first day that the firm trades without paying the upcoming dividend. So that would be the day that the market value declines by the dividend amount since it subtracted from retained earnings/equity which you would no longer be entitled to.
Ex-Dividend-Date is the 1st trading day where the stock trades X dividend (w/o the dividend attached). Efficient markets (w/o tax and tracnsaction costs) should ideally get it down to this formula. P(ex-div-date) = P(pre ex-div-date) - [div-per-share] So given a ex-div-date, use that in the PV calculation else use payment-date.