Last week, ASX earnings season accelerated with the full-year results of Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) for investors to digest. However, share market enthusiasts don't have too long to weigh these numbers before eligibility for CBA's record final dividend closes.
As we discussed extensively last Wednesday, CBA's numbers for the 2024 financial year were somewhat mixed at first glance.
The ASX 200 bank stock reported a flat operating income of $27.17 billion. Cash net profit after tax fell by 2% to $9.84 billion, while operating expenses ticked up 3% to $12.22 billion.
However, that didn't stop CBA from announcing a hike to its final dividend.
The bank declared a final dividend of $2.50 per share for FY2024, fully franked of course. As we noted at the time, that's a record-high shareholder payout for CBA.
This payout represents a healthy 4.17% rise over the final dividend of $2.40 per share that investors enjoyed this time last year. It also represents more than a 16% rise over the interim dividend of $2.15 per share that was paid out back in March.
This dividend will bring CBA's FY2024 dividend total to $4.65 per share, a new record for the bank's income over a financial year.
But, as we touched on above, investors are running out of time to secure this payout.
How to bag the record final dividend payment from CBA shares
CBA has scheduled this final payment's ex-dividend date for this Wednesday, 21 August. That means that if anyone doesn't yet own CBA shares but wishes to receive this income from the bank, they will need to buy the shares by no later than tomorrow's market close.
Any investor who buys CBA stock from Wednesday's market open onwards will leave the seller with the right to receive this dividend.
Commonwealth Bank will then dole out this dividend on 29 September next month.
Eligible investors have until this Friday, 23 August, to decide if they wish to participate in the optional dividend reinvestment plan (DRP). That's if they wish to receive additional CBA shares in lieu of the traditional cash payment.
CBA's yield
At the time of writing, the CBA share price has started the week off on a sour note, currently down 0.42% at $137.55. That's after we saw a new record-high price of $138.50 last Friday.
At this share price, CBA shares are trading on a trailing dividend yield of 3.31%. Factoring in this upcoming final dividend, the same shares would have a forward yield of 3.38%.
