What is the least amount of time i can own a stock to get dividend?

External question — Personal Finance Stack Exchange Author: Nayeem Original post: https://money.stackexchange.com/questions/163337 License: CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Adaptation: HTML converted to plain text; contact email addresses removed. As we should own the stock at the close of trading on the day before the ex-dividend date, does the extended trading close at 7:59 PM or 11:59 PM. So buy at 7:59 PM and sell at 8:00 PM or buy at 11:59 PM and sell at 12:00 AM Which of these would make you eligible for the dividend?