Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co Ltd (ASX: SOL) shares are some of the most famous dividend investments on the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO), and indeed on the entire Australian stock market.
Not because of the high yield that's typically available with this company, mind you, At present Soul Patts shares offer a dividend yield of 2.54%. That's decent, but nothing to write home about.
No, this company is famous because it is the only ASX share that has managed to increase its annual dividend every single year since 2000. That's right, investors have enjoyed an annual dividend pay raise every year for 23 years and counting.
Back in late September, Soul Patts revealed its latest full-year earnings to investors. This revealed the investment house's latest dividend payment, which would turn out to be a final dividend of 51 cents per share, fully franked (as is typical with the company).
Once again, that represented a healthy increase over the previous year's payouts. Soul Patts funded a final dividend of 43 cents per share in 2022, so jumping up to 51 cents represents an increase of 18.2%.
Combined with the company's May interim dividend of 36 cents per share (itself a big rise over 2022's corresponding 29 cents), this brought Soul Patts' full-year dividend to 87 cents per share. That's a 20.8% jump over 2022's ordinary dividend total.
All aboard: The Soul Patts dividend train is leaving the station
But if you'd like to secure this latest dividend rise from Soul Patts shares, you'd better hurry. That's because the company is scheduled to trade ex-dividend for this upcoming payment tomorrow, 17 November.
The ex-dividend date is the day that eligibility for an upcoming dividend payment is determined. Anyone who is on the record as owning Soul Patts shares before the ex-dividend date becomes eligible to receive payment. But anyone who buys shares on the ex-dividend date or afterwards misses out this time.
So if you're keen to see this 51 cents per share payout arrive in your bank account, you have until the end of today's trading to get on board. From tomorrow, any new Soul Patts investors will have to wait until 2024 to get their first shareholder paycheque.
Eligible shareholders will then receive this latest dividend next month on 12 December.
