ANZ Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: ANZ) shares are a popular option for income investors.
Each year, the banking giant rewards its shareholders with two dividend payments.
The most recent was announced last week when the big four bank released its half year results.
As a reminder, ANZ reported cash earnings of $3,552 million for the six months. This represents a 1% decline compared to the second half of FY 2023.
Management advised that this reflects a difficult half for the Australia Retail business, which reported a 9% decline in cash earnings to $794 million. This offset a strong performance from its key Institutional business, which delivered a 12% jump in cash earnings to $1,522 million.
Fortunately for shareholders, this modest earnings decline didn't stop the ANZ board from increasing its dividend. It lifted its 65% franked interim dividend by 2 cents per share year on year to 83 cents per share.
Unfortunately for non-shareholders, ANZ's shares traded ex-dividend for this payout on Monday. This means that the rights to this dividend are now settled and so it is too late to receive this on pay day (1 July) if you were not on its share register at Friday's close.
But don't worry, because ANZ will be announcing its next dividend in six months when it releases its full year results.
But what will be the amount of that dividend? Let's see what analysts are now predicting from the banking giant after running the rule over last week's results.
ANZ dividend forecast
According to a note out of Goldman Sachs, its analysts have boosted their dividend forecasts in response to its results.
The broker is now expecting ANZ to pay total dividends of $1.66 per share in FY 2024. This is an increase from its previous forecast of $1.62 per share. Based on the latest ANZ share price of $28.21, this will mean a 5.9% partially franked dividend yield for investors.
In FY 2025, Goldman has also lifted its dividend forecast from $1.62 per share to $1.66 per share. This will mean another attractive partially franked 5.9% dividend yield for shareholders to look forward to receiving.
And if you're a fan of consistency (and big yields), you will be pleased to know that Goldman expects a third year in a row of $1.66 per share partially franked dividends in FY 2026. This will mean yet another 5.9% dividend yield for investors.
Overall, the broker appears to believe that the big yields are here to stay, which is likely to be supportive of the ANZ share price during the forecast period.
