I thought the ex-date was by definition before the date of record, else the company will always have the wrong list of people to pay the dividend.

Anytime the dividend is more than 25% of the value of the stock I’ll avoid as it doesn’t fit my risk profile.

I’ll call it a wash.

this document i found does a good job at explaining what these clowns at finra say about it. the nasdaq bulletin boards (ie .ob stocks) deal with these guys as well

I’ve seen it happen fairly often where the record date will be a week or two before the ex div date. If you hold your shares in ‘street name’ ie via a broker, their corporate action department will ensure the dividend/returnofcapital/etc follows who has the stock just prior to ex-div…then on dec or dec 3, whatever they decide to actually pay it, the stock will drop. Sometimes if you weren’t an owner before record date the payment will be delayed by a week or so, but eventually you will get it.

In fact, maybe 8 or 9 years ago I actually found a situation where bloomberg had the ex-div date diff from the sec filings. I thought I was super smart because I got the dividend AND sold my stock. Unfortunately, about a month later the broker’s audit committee figured out the mix-up and they took the dividend away. I was all kinds of pissed but couldn’t do anything about it.

anyway, the unfortunate bottom line is to eventually get the dividend you need to own shares before the ex-div date. If you own prior to record date, you may get the divvy initially, but the broker will take it and give it to whoever had ownership after you and pay it as a ‘due bill’.

How on earth is an ex dividend date the day of payment…it is usually a couple of days before the record date. Sure it’s not required for the ex-dividend date to be a couple of days prior to record date.

Given today’s price movement I agree with you, but if you must hold the stock on Dec. 2 what in the hell is the point of the record date?

My broker also told me the ex-dividend date is Dec. 2, but two folks at the company said that if you owned on Nov. 16 you get dividend. Maybe I’ve totally misunderstood a very basic concept…thanks for the comments.

from the 10q
On November 2, 2009, Aspen declared a cash dividend of $0.73 per share. The dividend will be paid to stockholders of record on November 16, 2009, with the dividend being paid on or about December 2, 2009. The distribution follows the final settlement of the sale of Aspen’s California oil and gas assets to Venoco. At the final settlement date Aspen received a net payment from Venoco, but was required to make various payments to third parties which ultimately resulted in a cash outflow. The net of this settlement is not considered to be material to Aspen.
from the 8k
On November 2, 2009 Aspen Exploration Corporation (“Aspen”) declared a cash dividend of $0.73 per share. The dividend will be paid to stockholders of record on November 16, 2009, with the dividend being paid on or about December 2, 2009. A copy of the news release describing the dividend is attached hereto as Exhibit 99.1. The distribution follows the final settlement of the sale of Aspen’s California oil and gas assets to Venoco, Inc., at which the parties made a number of immaterial adjustments to the purchase price paid at the June 30, 2009 closing, and made certain other payments that were not determined until after the closing. At the final settlement date Aspen received a net payment from Venoco, but was required to make various payments to third parties which ultimately resulted in a cash outflow from Aspen in an amount not considered to be material.

Aspen expects that after the payment of the dividend, and its anticipated operations through the end of the current calendar year, on December 31, 2009 it will have more than $3 million of working capital remaining. Aspen currently intends to utilize its remaining funds to maintain its corporate status as a reporting issuer under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and to explore other business opportunities. Pending developments with respect to any business opportunities Aspen identifies, Aspen may later reevaluate its status and plans and consider alternatives to wind up its affairs. Aspen’s projections and future plans described in this report are “forward-looking statements” (as such term is defined in Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended) which are dependent upon a number of factors. There can be no assurance that Aspen’s projections will prove to be accurate or that Aspen will be able to successfully execute or implement its operations as described herein.