Strategy’s (MSTR) perpetual preferred stock, STRC, is down 3% during Friday’s pre-market and is trading below $73 around 27% below its $100 par value, as investors focus on June 30, a date that brings two important events.
First, June 30 is the ex-dividend date. Investors who own shares before the ex-dividend date will receive the next payment, while buyers on or after June 30 will not. The date also serves as the record date, when Strategy shareholders qualify for the distribution. Eligible investors will receive STRC’s first semi-monthly dividend of $0.48 per share on July 15.
Normally, a stock declines by roughly the amount of its dividend when it begins trading ex-dividend. For STRC, a $0.48 adjustment on a $73 stock represents less than 0.7%, during a time when STRC is falling as much as 2-3% a day. So the ex-dividend date in theory should not be a huge catalyst for further downside in the STRC price.
The bigger catalyst is Strategy’s monthly dividend rate reset. STRC is a perpetual preferred stock, meaning it has no maturity date and pays a dividend that can be reset periodically.