The Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) share price has been on a disappointing run over the past five years.
Shares in the banking giant were at a multi-year high in 2017 before gradually trending lower.
It's worth noting that it was during COVID-19 that Westpac shares hit rock bottom to a decade-low of less than $15 in March 2020.
The shares quickly rebounded along with the broader market to about the $25 mark in the months following.
While 2022 has been eventful with strong inflationary movements and interest rate hikes, Westpac shares have again stumbled.
At yesterday's market close, the Westpac share price was $19.92.
Let's take a look and see how much Westpac has distributed in dividends to shareholders over the past five years.
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A summary of Westpac's dividend history
Here's a list of all the dividends paid out by Westpac since 2017.
- July 2017 – 94 cents (interim)
- December 2017 — 94 cents (final)
- July 2018 — 94 cents (interim)
- December 2018 – 94 cents (final)
- June 2019 — 94 cents (interim)
- December 2019 — 80 cents (final)
- June 2020 — No interim dividend paid (COVID-19)
- December 2020 — 31 cents (final)
- June 2021 — 58 cents (interim)
- December 2021 — 60 cents (final)
- June 2022 — 61 cents (interim).
When adding all of the above amounts, Westpac has paid a total of $7.60 in dividends per share since 2017.
You may have noted that the board elected not to pay a dividend during the height of COVID-19 (June 2020). This is because the bank was bracing for financial headwinds due to the gloomy economic outlook.
Nonetheless, after a cautious approach in the following period, Westpac began slowly ramping up its dividend again. However, it's still 35% off its pre-COVID levels.
At the time of writing, Westpac has a trailing dividend yield of 6.07%.
Westpac share price summary
Despite accelerating over the long term, Westpac shares have lost 23% in the past 12 months.
Year-to-date, the ASX big four bank also hasn't fared well. Its shares are down 8% over the first six months of 2022 due to strong volatility across global markets.
Based on valuation grounds, Westpac commands a market capitalisation of approximately $69.74 billion.
