This morning, S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) investors learned just how much the final Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) dividend is going to be.
The diversified ASX 200 financial stock reported its full-year results for the 12 months ending 31 March today.
And while sliding profits resulted in a lower final Macquarie dividend payout than last year, the pain for passive income investors was less than analysts had expected.
Here's what you need to know.
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Macquarie dividend dips alongside profits
It was a tough year for the ASX 200 financial stock, and the market had been pricing in sliding profits and a lower final Macquarie dividend.
Indeed, today Macquarie reported a 12% decrease in net operating income, which slipped to $16.89 billion.
Net profits were down 32% to $3.52 billion.
Two of the company's operating segments really dragged on the final results.
Profit contributions from Macquarie Asset Management were down 48% year on year. As the Motley Fool reported, this was "driven by lower asset realisations in green investments and increased net expenditure in investments in green energy portfolio companies".
And net profit contributions from its Commodities and Global Markets segment fell 47% from the prior year. This was primarily due to "lower inventory management and trading income from a strong prior year in North American Gas and Power and a decreased contribution from Commodities risk management".
What's the dividend payout?
This has resulted in Macquarie declaring a final dividend of $3.85 per share, 40% franked.
That's down 14.4% from the final dividend of $4.50 a share paid out last year.
Still, it represents a 2H 2024 payout ratio of 70%, on the upper end of the company's dividend policy of a 50% to 70% payout ratio.
And it's handily above the consensus forecast of a final dividend of $3.50 per share.
If you'd like to bank this passive income payout, you'll need to own shares on Friday, 10 May. Macquarie stock trades ex-dividend on Monday, 13 May. You can then expect to see that hit your bank account on 2 July.
Or, if you wish to put your money to work, the company's dividend reinvestment plan (DRP) is in effect, with shares to be acquired on-market.
At the current Macquarie share price of $184.13, this represents a pending yield of 2.1%, partly franked, from the final dividend alone.
Atop the interim dividend of $2.55 per share, paid on 19 December, Macquarie will have paid a total of $6.40 in dividends over the year. While that's down from $7.50 per share a year earlier, it represents a partly franked yield of 3.5% and a full-year payout ratio of 70%.
