The National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) dividend is worth talking about. Australia's third largest lender is currently trading on a forward dividend per share of 120 cents.
That comes after a 60 cent per share interim dividend announced in May 2021 after a conservative 2020 due to COVID-19 impacts and regulatory restrictions.
This NAB payout estimate means the bank's shares are trading on a 3.26% dividend yield right now. So, how does that compare to other ASX banking shares?
How does the NAB dividend compare to its sector?
Let's start with the largest of the Aussie banks — Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA). CBA recently announced a $2.00 per share final dividend for the year ended 30 June 2021 (FY21).
The fully-franked distribution gives CBA shares a 3.50% forward dividend yield right now. That's based on Tuesday's closing price of $100.12 per share and assumes an unchanged $1.50 per share interim payment.
Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) announced a fully-franked, 58 cents per share interim dividend on 3 May. The group's shares are currently trading on a forward 89 cents dividend (assuming December's dividend remains unchanged) for a 3.42% dividend yield.
The NAB dividend also trails the smallest of the Big Four banks by market capitalisation — Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX: ANZ).
ANZ announced a 70 cents per share interim dividend in May 2020 and is trading on an assumed 1.37 cents per share forward dividend.
That gives the Aussie bank a 3.62% forward dividend yield at the time of writing.
Foolish takeaway
So, all of NAB's peers have higher dividend yields — what does it all mean?
For one thing, NAB hasn't announced its full-year results yet and November's update will be one to watch. There's also the $2.5 billion share buyback program announced in July to return surplus capital to investors.
That means the NAB dividend isn't the only way that investors can gain returns from their shares at the moment.
