It's looking like another positive day for the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) this Tuesday so far, perhaps to celebrate the Melbourne Cup. At the time of writing, the ASX 200 is up a decent 0.65% at over 6,900 points. But the same seemingly can't be said of the Brickworks Limited (ASX: BKW) share price.
Brickworks shares closed at $22.13 each yesterday. But today, the ASX 200 building materials company opened at $21.60 a share and is currently going for $21.62. That's a 2.3% slide at the time of writing.
So does it look like Brickworks shares are getting singled out for some unjustified punishment today?
Well, the good news for shareholders is that they aren't. Rather, Brickworks shares are on the slide today for perhaps the best reason to have an ASX share fall in value. It's ex-dividend day for the company.
Brickworks share price falls as company goes ex-dividend
Brickworks is scheduled to pay out its next dividend on 23 November. It will be the company's final dividend, worth 41 cents a share, fully franked. But if you didn't own Brickworks shares as of yesterday's market close, then you'll miss out on this dividend.
When a company trades ex-dividend, any new shareholders are cut off from being eligible to receive the payment. As such, the value of Brickworks shares just declined by the value of the dividend. That's why we are seeing the company drop in value today. It's a normal share price movement for a company trading ex-div.
The 41 cents per share payment that eligible shareholders will enjoy later this month represents a nice 2.5% increase on last year's final dividend of 40 cents per share. It takes Brickworks' trailing annual dividends to 63 cents per share. That's if we take into account the interim dividend of 22 cents per share that investors enjoyed in May.
At yesterday's closing Brickworks share price, the company has a trailing dividend yield of 2.85%.
As my Fool colleague Tristan pointed out yesterday, Brickworks now has a 46-year streak of either maintaining or increasing its annual dividends. That's a rare feat for an ASX share. According to the company, Brickworks has increased its dividend at a compound rate of 7.1% per annum over the past 20 years.
