Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) investors will be happy to know the company pays out its latest dividend today.
The retail conglomerate is rewarding eligible shareholders with a fully-franked interim dividend of 39 cents per share.
At Tuesday's market close, the Woolworths share price finished 0.26% lower to $38.12.
For context, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) also fell yesterday with a 0.42% loss to 7,454 points.
Let's take a look at all the details regarding the company's dividend.
Woolworths distributes interim dividend
Woolworths reported mixed numbers across key financial metrics for its half-year results on 23 February.
Management stated the financial performance for the first half of FY22 was materially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
And while the company experienced strong sales growth for continuing operations, this was offset by $239 million of COVID costs. This was due to the Omicron variant outbreak at Woolworths' stores and distribution centres from late last year to early 2022.
Notably, Woolworths shelves were left bare in stores across the country as a result of the staff shortages. This resulted in about 50% of delayed deliveries for major product lines.
With that in mind, the board decided to slash its upcoming interim dividend by 26.4% over the prior corresponding period.
When calculating against the current share price, Woolworths is trailing on a forecast fully-franked dividend yield of 2.83%.
Under the company's capital management framework, there is typically a 70% to 75% dividend payout.
Woolworths share price snapshot
At today's levels, Woolworths shares are trading at the same price since the beginning of 2022.
While the recent COVID-19 outbreak in Australia caused logistical supply issues, other macroenvironmental factors also weighed down investor sentiment. This relates to the Reserve Bank of Australia indicating potential rate hikes to curb rising inflation.
Woolworths shares reached a 52-week low of $33.45 in February, before treading upwards over the following months.
Woolworths has a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 5.8 and commands a market capitalisation of roughly $46.2 billion.
