It was back on 14 August that Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd (ASX: BEN) reported its latest earnings, covering the full 2023 financial year. But today, it will be up to investors to decide if they want to receive the latest Bendigo Bank dividend.
As we covered at the time, it was a fairly positive update from Bendigo and Adelaide Bank. This ASX 200 bank share reported a 14% increase in total income to $1.93 billion, as well as a 15.3% rise in cash earnings up to $576.9 million.
Despite these rises, analysts were expecting something a little more impressive, which explains why the Bendigo Bank share price came under pressure when the report was released.
But let's get to the Bendigo Bank dividend.
How to bag the supersized Bendigo Bank dividend
Last month, the company announced that its final dividend for FY23 would come in at 32 cents per share, fully franked. That's a pleasing 20.75% rise over last year's corresponding dividend payment worth 26.5 cents per share. It also takes Bendigo Bank's full-year dividend for 2023 to 61 cents per share, which is again a healthy 15%.1 increase over 2022's total of 53 cents per share.
But if investors wish to bag themselves this newly upped dividend from Bendigo Bank, they had better be quick. That's because the Bendigo Bank share price is scheduled to trade ex-dividend for this upcoming payment on Monday, 4 September.
That means that today is the last trading day investors can buy Bendigo Bank shares with the rights to receiving this dividend attached. Come Monday, anyone who buys the shares will miss out. So expect to see a big drop in the Bendigo Bank share price on Monday, reflecting this inherent loss of value.
Eligible shareholders will then be in line for payment on 29 September later this month. But if you want to participate in Bendigo Bank's optional dividend reinvestment plan (DRP), you have until 6 September next week to opt in. This DRP allows shareholders to receive additional Bendigo Bank shares in lieu of the traditional cash payment if they so desire.
At the current Bendigo and Adelaide Bank share price, this ASX 200 bank share offers a chunky dividend yield of 6.4%.
It's been a lacklustre year for the Bendigo Bank share price in 2023 so far. Year to date, Bendigo Bank shares remain down 0.3%, but are still up 6.95% over the past 12 months:
