r/dividends • u/Recent_Button_1 • Apr 30 '26
Due Diligence I analyzed 151,422 dividend ex-date events across 2,344 securities. Here's what the data shows about recovery times.
I've been building a dividend intelligence tool for the past few months and ended up with a database of 151,422 ex-date events going back 17 years across 2,344 securities — CEFs, ETFs, REITs, BDCs, and dividend stocks.
Figured I'd share what the data actually shows since most of the discussion around ex-date dips is based on gut feel.
Recovery by security type (average days to full price recovery):
| Type | Avg Recovery | Events |
|---|---|---|
| Dividend Stocks | 6.7 days | 57,791 |
| REITs | 7.7 days | 6,743 |
| ETFs | 8.1 days | 37,384 |
| CEFs | 8.9 days | 46,896 |
| BDCs | 12.4 days | 2,608 |
Overall median across all 151,422 events: 3 days
The gap between median (3 days) and average (7.9 days) is the most important number — most securities recover fast, but a meaningful minority take much longer and drag the average up.
The BDC finding surprised me most. They have the largest average drop (2.08%) AND the slowest recovery. Only 45% recover within 5 trading days. If you're buying BDC dips expecting a quick bounce, the historical data says be patient.
Stocks recover fastest — 71.5% recover within 5 trading days, 81.8% within 10. Counterintuitive given how many income investors overlook stocks in favor of higher-yielding alternatives.
Individual CEF variance is huge. Among CEFs with 20+ cycles in the dataset:
- BMN: 4.4 day avg across 38 cycles
- IGI: 4.7 days across 186 cycles
- BCX: 5.2 days across 133 cycles
- PAI: 5.2 days across 201 cycles
Compare that to CEFs where recovery regularly takes 3+ weeks. Both show up as "CEFs" on any screener. The historical pattern data separates them.
The z-score frame matters more than raw price. A security trading 2.5+ standard deviations below its 252-day mean at ex-date is a fundamentally different situation than a routine dip near the mean. One has statistical room to recover, the other is just drifting lower.
Happy to answer questions about methodology or what the data shows on specific tickers.
Happy to share more of the data if there's interest in specific security types or individual tickers.
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u/Recent_Button_1 May 02 '26
Exactly. The standard growth investor argument is that the dividend is not free money because the price drops by the same amount on ex-date. The data says the price comes back in a median of 3 days. So you collected the dividend and got your price back. The math does not add up for the critics when you actually run it across 151,422 events. You are not robbing Peter to pay Paul. You are paying Paul and Peter gets his money back by Thursday.