Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it's exciting to see NBT Bancorp Inc. ( NASDAQ:NBTB ) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next four days. The ex-dividend date occurs one day before the record date which is the day on which shareholders need to be on the company's books in order to receive a dividend. The ex-dividend date is of consequence because whenever a stock is bought or sold, the trade takes at least two business day to settle. In other words, investors can purchase NBT Bancorp's shares before the 28th of February in order to be eligible for the dividend, which will be paid on the 15th of March.