COMPANY MICROSOFT P

art 2: Identify the dividend declaration dates (referred to by Mergent Online as Record Date, which is different from the record date as defined in the textbook), the ex-dividend dates, and the payment dates. Explain the significance of these dates. Choose one dividend distribution event. Obtain the stock prices of your company on the declaration date, ex-dividend date, and payment date for this one dividend distribution event. Can you observe price shifts around these dates? Explain what price shifts you might expect to see. Part 3: From the list of dividend distribution events of your company in the past few years (obtained in Part 2), identify at least one dividend-increase event, one dividend-cut event, and one unchanged-dividend event. (For example, on September 17, 2013, MSFT increased the dividend from $0.23 to $0.28.) Observe how the stock prices shift around the declaration dates (1 day before to 1 day after the declared date) for each of the 3 dividend events. Explain why such shifts are expected or unexpected.