You didn't even have to be long EEM today to receive the dividend. For EEM, the ex div date is typically 6 or 7 days before the payable date (today is payable date). Holders of record on the ex div date will receive the dividend whether or not the still hold the stock on the payable date as long as they held it through the ex div date.  It's rare, but sometimes I will use that fact to game the system...the latest example for me are some bonds funds that have a monthly payout.  If I'm going in to the payable date with a small capital loss on the books (often from the last div), I'll often just take the loss, collect the div without taking the hit to stock price and reinvest in something similar to avoid the wash sale rule. Pretty easy when there are so many matching products these days.