Résumé
This paper investigates the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic on investors' trading behaviors around ex-dividend dates in Europe. The sudden decrease in the number of companies paying dividends reduced the opportunities to capture dividends. Thus, the firms that maintained dividend payments during the pandemic attracted more interest than before. This led to a doubling in the magnitude of stock return patterns usually observed around ex-dividend days. Our evidence indicates that dividend-seeking investors are likely to be the main driver of the price patterns observed around ex-dividend dates.