It's been an interesting day for the AGL Energy Limited (ASX: AGL) share price so far this Monday. At present, AGL shares are flat at $10.94 a share after dropping as low as $10.84 earlier this morning. Perhaps investors are taking this opportunity to secure the next dividend from AGL shares.
Last week, we reported on AGL's latest earnings report, which covered the full 2023 financial year. As we discussed at the time, these earnings saw the energy generator and retailer report a 7.1% rise in revenues to $14.16 billion, as well as a 24.9% increase in underlying profits after tax to $281 million.
That's despite a statutory loss of $1.26 billion for FY2023.
Pleasingly for income investors, these results also included a massive increase to AGL's next dividend. This company's final dividend for 2023 will come in at an unfranked 23 cents per share.
That's more than double AGL's final dividend from last year, which was only worth 10 cents per share. It's also a huge rise over the interim dividend from March, which was worth 8 cents per share for investors.
But if you're keen to bag this latest, supersized dividend from AGL shares, you're running out of time. That's because the ex-dividend date for this latest payout is right around the corner. AGL is set to trade ex-dividend on Wednesday this week (23 August).
AGL share price set for a slump as ex-dividend date approaches
Yes, AGL will trade ex-dividend on Wednesday. That means that anyone who buys AGL shares from Wednesday's session onwards will be ineligible to receive this latest payment. So tomorrow's session is the last time you will be able to pick up AGL shares if you want to benefit from this dividend.
As such, we can expect to see a big share price fall when AGL shares open for trading on Wednesday. This happens almost every time a share goes ex-dividend. It reflects the inherent loss of value from the dividend eligibility window closing for new investors.
Eligible shareholders will then have to wait until 22 September next month to receive their dividend cash.
The company is not making this payout eligible for its dividend reinvestment plan, so receiving the cold hard cash is the only option for investors this time around.
At the current AGL share price, this ASX 200 stock has a dividend yield of 2.83%.
