stock prices do not account for ex dividend

Joe7

QW2015 H&B      I have noticed for a long time that Quicken updates to a stock price do not account for a stock going EX DIV.  For example, today NLY went EX Div paying $.30.  Every other site shows NLY up $.11 today but Quicken is showing it down $.19.  I realize that once the dividend is paid, the "loss" will be reflected as a gain in Quicken's numbers but for the 3-4 weeks until the paid date it reflects in Quicken as a loss.  Isn't there a way for Intuit to remedy this problem?

q_lurker

NEW YORK-- (March 16, 2017)-- The Board of Directors of Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE: NLY) (the “Company” or “Annaly”) declared the first quarter 2017 common stock cash dividend of $0.30 per common share. This dividend is payable April 28, 2017, to common shareholders of record on March 31, 2017. The ex-dividend date is March 29, 2017. 

OK, so 3/16, NLY declares the dividend.  Buying shares on 3/28 would settle on 3/31,and I would be a shareholder of record on 3/31 and get the dividend on 4/28.  Buying shares on 3/29 (today) would not close until 4/3 (Monday); I would not be a shareholder on 3/31, I would not get the $0.30 dividend.  Fair enough.  That is to explain (I hope and mostly to keep myself straight) the differences between the declaration date, the ex-div date, the record date and the dividend date.

So on 3/28 NLY closes at $11.31/share.  On 3/29, it closes at $11.12.  Yesterday's seller demanded $11.31 for a share.  Today's seller was willing to take less for the share because he knew he had $0.30 coming to him at the end of April.  Today's seller is valuing the complete holding at $11.42/share, noting that he is getting the $0.30 dividend later, he is letting the share go for $0.30 less than that value - the $11.12 value.  

But all that Quicken knows, the only available info to the program are those $11.31 and $11.12 closing prices on consecutive days.  That's where the program is determining the $0.19 drop in value.  Fundamentally, the program does not have fields available for actual div dates and pending div values (there is an ex-div date among the downloaded data).  While I might be able to conjure up a method for the user to create this data (a sort of accounts receivable method), I can't see where such efforts would be sufficiently rewarded.  

Quicken, Inc. (Intuit is no longer involved) could reprogram the package, but to me that sounds like a pretty big undertaking for limited gain.  Tomorrow's daily change or up/down figure will be correct.  Other longer term measures will be off until the 4/28 div is recorded as received.

HTH