RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:$30bmeister2 wrote: But worth less to whom? As a shareholder I don't want it to drop, and oil is up 2 bucks today so what is keeping it down today but not last Friday? Somebody is gaining on tou down but it ain't me. Something still smells fishy. Somehow, it is kept down to reflect lost cash due to divvy but I just don't know how or who controls that but big time interests who gain from this.
It's not perspective or question of to whom. It's a matter of fact. The second after the market closes on ex-dividend day, the company value has decreased by the amount of the dividend. Full stop. After that, all other market forces such as price of oil/gas and politics etc., take over and the market revalues the stock at opening the next day, but also taking into account that the dividend is being paid to all shareholders of day before.
Just an extreme example to illustrate. If a TOU managed to lever itself equal to its market cap (i.e. borrow say $14B), then immediately declare a dividend in equal amount; then at the end of ex-dividend day, the company would be worth zero, as all the capital would have been stripped from the company and distributed to existing shareholders.