Investors in ASX 200 bank share Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd (ASX: BEN) have not had a great time watching their investment over the past five years.
Bendigo Bank shares were asking a share price of over $11 back in May 2018. But today, this ASX bank is going for $8.75 at the time of writing. Although that's up a decent 1.6% for the day, it is still a good 21.3% lower than where it was five years ago.
Not exactly a solid return on investment there. But most ASX investors don't buy bank shares for their capital growth potential. The name of the name here is usually the dividends.
All ASX bank shares tend to pay out chunky and fully franked dividends to their investors. Bendigo Bank is no different. Today, this ASX 200 bank has a trailing (and fully franked) dividend yield of 6.28% on the table.
Now that looks impressive, to be sure. But have Bendigo Bank's dividends over the past five years been enough to make up for the rather lousy share price performance we've just discussed?
Let's dive in.
How much have Bendigo Bank shares paid out in dividends since 2018?
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank has paid out two dividends every year since 2018, with the exception of 2020, when the pandemic forced the Bank to scrap its final dividend for that year.
2018 had the bank fork out a total of 70 cents per share in dividends. We'll only use one 35 cents per share payment, as the interim dividend was paid out more than five years ago (back in March 2018).
2019 again saw 70 cents per share distributed.
2020's single interim dividend came to 31 cents per share.
2021 saw biannual dividends resume, with a total of 54.5 cents per share doled out.
2022 saw this total rise to 53 cents per share.
And we have had one dividend payment from Bendigo Bank in 2023 so far – the interim dividend of 29 cents per share that investors bagged back in March. All of these dividend payments came with full franking credits.
So that's a total of $2.725 in dividends per share that investors have enjoyed over the past five years.
If an investor invested $10,000 into Bendigo Bank shares five years ago, they would have received 899 shares, with a little change left over. Today, those 899 shares would be worth just over $7,866.
Has this ASX 200 bank share been worth the wait?
But each of those shares would have attracted $2.725 in dividends over this period. That's an extra $2,449.78 in dividend income for our 899 shares. Combining the dividends with our principle of $10,000, and subtracting the capital losses, we get a sum total of $10,312.88.
Therefore, we can conclude that our $10,000 investment into Bendigo Bank shares five years ago would be worth $10,312.88 today, including the value of Bendigo Bank's dividends. So indeed, the dividends from this ASX 200 bank share have indeed made up for its rather steep share price falls. Shareholders are better off today to the tune of $312.88.
That's still not a great return for five years of waiting. But it's certainly better than losing money.
Still, no doubt Bendigo and Adelaide Bank investors will be hoping the next five years are a little more lucrative for this ASX 200 bank share.
