Enzon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ENZN)

[gabeh]

I'm confused.

The company Q1 report says that the dividend will be paid on August 12 to shareholders of record of July 21.

The Wikipedia page on Special Dividends says:

If you sell stock after the record date but before the ex-dividend date, your shares will be sold with a book entry sometimes called a "due bill," which denotes that though the company will pay the dividend to your account (as the shareholder of record), your account must, in turn, turn that dividend over to the buyer of your stock. Conversely, if you buy stock after the record date but before the ex-dividend date of a large special dividend, you are entitled to the dividend and will receive it via the due bill process.

This suggests that the only significance of the July 21 date is that if you sell between July 21 and August 12 you have to turn over your dividend to the one who bought your shares between those two dates.

It seems that as long as you hold the shares on August 12 you will receive the dividend no matter when you bought them. The July 21 date is meaningless.