Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) shares are up 2.3% to $49.82 per share on the back of a big interim dividend boost, announced this morning.
That came as the diversified S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) retail share reported its half-year earnings results for the six months ending 31 December (H1 HY23).
Here's everything you need to know about the boosted Wesfarmers dividend.
What's happening with the Wesfarmers dividend?
The Wesfarmers board declared a fully franked 88 cent per share (cps) interim dividend.
That's an increase of 10% from the 80 cents per share paid out in the first half of the 2022 financial year.
Wesfarmers said the payout reflects "Wesfarmers' dividend policy, which takes into account available franking credits, balance sheet position, credit metrics and cash flow generation and requirements".
The big lift was made possible by a 14.1% year-on-year increase in net profit after tax (NPAT), which came in at $1.38 billion.
ASX 200 investors who want to receive the payout should note the ex-dividend date is next Monday, 20 February.
If you own shares before they trade ex-dividend you can expect the 80 cents per share payout on 28 March.
Wesfarmers also operates a dividend reinvestment plan (DRP). This enables you to automatically reinvest all or a portion of the payout into new shares.
If you wish to participate in this, the DRP election date is a week from today, Wednesday 22 February.
