Best time to sell

If you want to sell and collect the dividend, you just need to sell the stock before the ex dividend date. However, it's important to keep in mind that on the ex-dividend date the stock will be marked down by the dividend paid. So in reality, there isn't much difference selling before or selling after.

For example, if a $50 stock pays a $1 dividend every quarter, it will be marked down to $49 on the ex-dividend date. Whatever it does after this is dependent on market conditions. So, the stock could be up more or down more than this. But, it is still marked down nonetheless.