FCPT and IMPPP Dividends: How to Never Miss an Ex-Date

On September 13, two income names declared payouts: Four Corners Property Trust (FCPT) at $0.1265 per share and Imperial Petroleum's 8.75% Series A Preferred (IMPPP) at $0.5469 per share. Miss the ex-dividend date on either and you miss the payment, so this guide shows how to track every ex-date and pay date for REITs and preferred shares in one dividend calendar.

What did FCPT and IMPPP actually declare on September 13?

Both companies declared cash distributions, but they sit in very different corners of income investing. Four Corners Property Trust (FCPT) is a net-lease real estate investment trust that declared a quarterly dividend of $0.1265 per common share. Imperial Petroleum's 8.75% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Perpetual Preferred (IMPPP) declared $0.5469 per share, its fixed quarterly coupon.

Here is the mechanical difference that matters for a dividend calendar:

• FCPT pays a variable common dividend a REIT board can raise, hold, or cut each quarter based on funds from operations.
• IMPPP pays a fixed rate tied to its $25 par value. At an 8.75% annual rate, that is $2.1875 per year, or $0.5469 per quarter.
• REIT common dividends often carry a mix of ordinary income, return of capital, and capital gains at tax time. Preferred distributions are usually straightforward income.

Neither declaration is a signal to do anything. It is a scheduling event: if you hold the shares before the ex-date, you receive the cash on the pay date.

How does an ex-dividend date actually decide who gets paid?

The ex-dividend date is the cutoff that decides whether the buyer or the seller receives the next dividend. To collect a declared payout, you must own the shares before the ex-dividend date, not on it.

The four dates every income investor should know

Every dividend runs through the same four-date sequence, and confusing them is the most common way people miss a payment.

1. Declaration date: the board announces the amount. For FCPT and IMPPP this was September 13.
2. Ex-dividend date: buy on or after this day and you do NOT get this payout. The seller keeps it.
3. Record date: the company checks its books to see who the registered holders are. Since US stocks settle T+1, the ex-date and record date usually fall on the same day.
4. Payment date: the cash actually lands in your account, often two to four weeks after the ex-date.

The stock price also typically drops by roughly the dividend amount on the ex-date, which trips up investors who see a red number and panic. That drop is the dividend leaving the share price, not a loss.

Why do REITs and preferred shares need their own dividend calendar?

REITs and preferred shares reward calendar discipline more than most equities because their whole appeal is the income stream, not price appreciation. A single missed ex-date on a high-yield name can cost a full quarter of yield.

REITs: variable payouts on a fixed rhythm

REITs are legally required to distribute at least 90% of taxable income to shareholders, which is why names like FCPT are built around dividends. The amount can change quarter to quarter, so tracking the declared figure each period matters as much as the date.

Preferred shares: fixed coupons, easy to forget

Preferred shares like IMPPP pay a set coupon and rarely make headlines, which is exactly why they slip through the cracks. Many are cumulative, meaning skipped payments accrue and must be paid before common dividends resume, but you still need to log the pay dates to reconcile the cash. If you are weighing fixed income against equity income more broadly, our breakdown of CDs at 4.30% versus dividend stocks covers the trade-offs.

How to build one dividend calendar for every holding

The most reliable dividend calendar tracks every position in one place, with the ex-date and pay date attached to each holding, so nothing depends on you remembering a scattered set of broker emails. A single view beats logging into three or four apps.

Here is what a working income calendar should capture for each name:

• Ticker and quantity held, so the calendar can compute the dollar payout automatically.
• Declared amount per share for the current period ($0.1265 for FCPT, $0.5469 for IMPPP).
• Ex-dividend date, the only date that decides eligibility.
• Payment date, so you can reconcile cash when it arrives.
• Yield on cost, which tells you the real return against what you actually paid.

PortfolioTrackr pulls dividend events for your holdings into a single calendar across the 95 stock exchanges and 67 currencies it covers, so a REIT on the NYSE and a preferred on Nasdaq sit in the same timeline. Connecting a broker is optional; you can enter positions manually, by voice, by text, from a CSV, or from a broker screenshot on any plan.

Ex-date vs pay date at a glance

How do price alerts help you avoid missing an ex-date?

Alerts turn a calendar you have to remember into one that reminds you. On PortfolioTrackr, every position and every watchlist level is checked once a minute, around the clock, so you can set an alert ahead of an ex-date and hear within a minute of your level being hit.

Two practical ways income investors use alerts:

• Price levels near an ex-date: set an alert at a level you care about so you are not caught off guard by the ex-date price drop. The tracker reports status against your own level; it does not tell you to trade.
• Reconciliation: when the payment date arrives, confirm the cash matches the declared amount times your share count.

Watchlist alerts are a Pro and Lifetime feature. For a fuller list of ex-dates worth loading into your calendar, our roundup of upcoming ex-dividend dates for major stocks is a good starting point.

How to track yield on cost for income names

Yield on cost measures a dividend against the price you actually paid, not today's price, which is the number that tells you how your income stream is really performing. It is the metric that matters most for a long-held REIT or preferred.

The formula is simple:

• Annual dividend per share divided by your average cost per share.
• For IMPPP: $2.1875 annual divided by your entry price. Buy at $25 par and yield on cost is 8.75%; buy lower and it rises.
• For FCPT: multiply the quarterly $0.1265 by four for a forward estimate, then divide by your cost basis.

Because REIT dividends move, recompute yield on cost each time a new amount is declared. Our walkthrough on tracking yield on cost shows the mechanics with a live example, and the portfolio tracker versus spreadsheet comparison explains why a manual sheet tends to break once you hold more than a handful of income names.

What can a holder of FCPT or IMPPP check right now?

If you hold either name, the useful move is to verify your own exposure and dates, not to react to the declaration. Checking is not a trading decision; it is bookkeeping.

A short checklist:

1. Confirm your share count so you know the exact cash to expect: quantity times $0.1265 for FCPT, times $0.5469 for IMPPP.
2. Note the ex-dividend date for each and whether you already held shares before it.
3. Set a price alert at a level you care about ahead of the ex-date if you are on a plan with watchlist alerts.
4. Check the position against your own targets, whether it is still below target, at Target 1, or at your stop-loss level.
5. Recompute yield on cost now that the current amount is confirmed.

Interest-rate moves matter for both REITs and preferreds, so it is worth understanding how 10-year yields near 5% affect bonds and stocks when you review income holdings.

The bottom line

FCPT's $0.1265 and IMPPP's $0.5469 declarations are scheduling events, and the ex-dividend date is the one deadline that decides whether you get paid. REITs bring variable amounts and mixed tax treatment; preferreds bring fixed coupons that are easy to forget.

Put every holding into one dividend calendar with its ticker, declared amount, ex-date, and pay date, set an alert where you have one, and recompute yield on cost each quarter. That workflow, rather than any single declaration, is what keeps an income portfolio on schedule.

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