The Washington H Soul Pattinson & Co Ltd (ASX: SOL) share price has surged by more than 50% over the past five years.
Shares in the investment house travelled to all-time highs in 2019, before hitting multi-year lows during COVID-19.
Nonetheless, this didn't stop Soul Patts shares from quickly recovering and rocketing to a record high of $40.80 in September 2021.
However, since then its shares have tumbled to $25.19 as of yesterday's market close.
While the company's shares are still up from 2017, it's the dividends that have been the highlight.
The Australian share market is well known for paying among the highest dividends in the world.
Let's take a look to see if Soul Patts' dividends have provided significant value to shareholders over the past five years.
A recap on Soul Patts' dividend history
Below, I've compiled a list of the Soul Patts dividends that have been paid out to shareholders since 2017.
- May 2017 — 22 cents (interim)
- December 2017 — 32 cents (final)
- May 2018 — 23 cents (interim)
- December 2018 — 33 cents (final)
- May 2019 — 24 cents (interim)
- December 2019 — 34 cents (final)
- May 2020 — 25 cents (interim)
- December 2020 — 35 cents (final)
- May 2021 — 26 cents (interim)
- December 2021 — 36 cents (final)
- May 2021 — 29 cents (interim)
When calculating the above, Soul Patts has paid a total of $3.19 in dividends to shareholders over the five years.
Added with the share price gains, parking your money in the company from 2017 would have been a worthy investment.
Currently, Soul Patts has a trailing dividend yield of 2.54%.
It's also worth noting that the board has consistently paid and increased its dividends over this time, even during COVID-19.
About the Soul Patts share price
Despite accelerating over the long term, Soul Patts shares have lost around 20% in the past 12 months.
Year-to-date hasn't fared well either, down 15% for the first six months due to strong volatility across global markets.
Based on valuation grounds, Soul Patts presides a market capitalisation of approximately $9.09 billion.
