Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) shares are popular among passive income investors for the company's long history as a reliable dividend payer.
Since 2013 the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) retail share has paid two fully franked dividends every year.
And Wesfarmers shares have also gained 70% in that time.
If I was just getting into the stock today, here's how much dividend income I might expect from 500 shares.
How much dividend income will 500 Wesfarmers shares deliver?
Before diving into the maths, it's important to note that the dividend yields we're looking at here are trailing yields. These are based on the past 12 months of dividend payments.
We'll also have a look at the payouts from prior years. But the passive income delivered by Wesfarmers shares in the future may be higher or lower than what the current trailing yield suggests.
With that said, Wesfarmers has had a very stable dividend history over the past decade. In fact, the only real outlier was the outsized interim dividend of $2 per share, paid in April 2019.
As for the past 12 months, Wesfarmers paid a final dividend of $1 per share on 6 October. The ASX 200 retail stock also paid an interim dividend of 88 cents per share. If you own shares, that will have hit your bank account on 28 March.
That equates to a full-year dividend payout of $1.88 per share.
Wesfarmers shares closed yesterday trading for $47.46 apiece. That works out to a trailing yield of 4%.
If I bought 500 shares, and the dividend payouts remain stable, I could then expect to earn $940 in passive income per year, with some potential tax benefits from those franking credits.
How has Wesfarmers stock been tracking?
Atop the dividends, Wesfarmers shares have handily outperformed the ASX 200 over the past 12 months, gaining 6%. The benchmark index is up 1.1% over that same period.
