Yesterday saw the Harvey Norman Holdings Limited (ASX: HVN) share price record a spectacular gain. By the close of Tuesday's trading, this famous ASX 200 retail share had closed up a chunky 1.53% at $3.99 a share. Perhaps investors are getting a bit excited over Harvey Norman's upcoming dividend payday.
At the end of August, we covered Harvey Norman's full-year earnings for the 2023 financial year. As we reported at the time, these earnings were a little disappointing for investors.
Harvey Norman recorded a 3.8% drop in revenues for FY23, alongside a far nastier 21.3% fall in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) to $1.13 billion.
That led to the company reporting a net profit after tax of $539.5 million, which was a 33.5% drop from last year's net profit.
So it was no surprise to see Harvey Norman deliver a hardly normal dividend. Yes, the company declared a final dividend for FY23 of 12 cents per share, fully franked. That represents a 31.4% drop from last year's equivalent payment of 17.5 cents per share, as well as the first dividend cut in two years.
Combining with the company's May interim dividend of 13 cents, it brought the full-year dividend to 25 cents per share, which is again a 33% drop over FY22's payouts.
Even so, this 12 cents per share final dividend still represents a yield of 3.01% alone, going off of yesterday's closing share price. So many investors will still probably be keen to bag this paycheque.
When is the latest Harvey Norman dividend coming to town?
But if they wish to do so, they'd better be quick. That's because the ex-dividend date for this latest Harvey Norman dividend is fast approaching.
The ex-dividend date is the date that new investors are cut off from eligibility for a company's upcoming dividend. Put simply, if you own a company's shares before an ex-dividend date, you get the dividend. If you buy them on or after that date, you miss out this time.
In Harvey Norman's case, the ex-dividend date for this final 12 cents per share dividend is set for this Friday, 13 October. As such, if you have your heart set on nabbing this payment, you will need to own Harvey Norman shares as of the close of trading this Thursday.
Eligible investors will then need to wait until 13 November next month to see the cash arrive in their bank or brokerage accounts.
At yesterday's closing share price, Harvey Norman shares were offering a trailing annual dividend yield of 6.27%.
