Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) has released its half-year results this morning, revealing its earnings and dividend for the six months ended 30 September.
Unfortunately, the bank's earnings fell well short of the market's expectations, which has put pressure on its share price. But what about its dividend?
The Macquarie dividend
This morning, the Macquarie board declared an interim partially franked (40% franking) dividend of $2.55 per share.
Unsurprisingly, given its earnings decline, this dividend was lower than the prior corresponding period. However, thanks to its strong capital position, the board was able to lift its payout ratio to the very top end of its target range at 70%. This means that its $2.55 per share dividend was only down by 15% from $3.00 per share a year earlier.
This was actually ahead of the market's expectations. The consensus estimate was for a $2.52 per share interim dividend. Whereas Goldman Sachs was expecting an even greater cut and had pencilled in an interim dividend of $2.10 per share.
If you want to receive the next Macquarie dividend then you will need to get a wriggle on. The company's shares will trade ex-dividend on 13 November. This means you will need to be on its share register by the close of play the day before.
After which, eligible shareholders can then look forward to receiving this dividend next month on 19 December.
But the returns won't stop there. The aforementioned strong capital position means that the Macquarie board has approved an on-market share buyback of up to $2 billion. This will be subject to a number of factors including the company's surplus capital position, market conditions, and opportunities to deploy capital by the businesses.
