ANZ Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: ANZ) shares are having a poor session on Wednesday.
In morning trade, the banking giant's shares are down 4% to $31.29.
Though, the bank's shareholders won't be too dismayed with this decline.
Thats because ANZ's shares remain up 27% over the past 12 months. This means that a $10,000 investment a year ago would be now worth $12,700.
And that doesn't include the dividends the bank has paid over the period. Which brings us nicely onto today's decline.
Why are ANZ shares under pressure today?
Today's decline isn't because of a bad update or a broker downgrade.
Rather, the weakness we are seeing today relates to ANZ's shares going ex-dividend for its latest dividend.
When this happens, a company's share price will tend to drop in line with the size of the dividend. This is to reflect the fact that the rights to the payout are now settled and anyone buying shares today will not be entitled to receive it on payday.
Instead, the dividend will land in the seller's bank account on payday, even though they no longer have the shares in their portfolio.
Unsurprisingly, investors don't want to pay for something they won't receive, which explains the pull back this morning.
The ANZ dividend
Last week, ANZ released its FY 2024 results and revealed a statutory net profit after tax of $6.5 billion. This represents an 8% decline on the prior corresponding period.
In light of this, the ANZ board declared a final dividend of 83 cents per share, partially franked at 70%. This was a small increase year on year, excluding special dividends. This brought the bank's full year dividend to $1.66 per share.
ANZ's shares are down today by $1.28, which is more than the value of the final dividend. This may be a sign that some investors have been waiting for today to take a bit of profit off the table.
When is payday?
If you're entitled to receive these dividends when they are paid, then you will no doubt be wondering when to expect them in your bank account.
The good news is you don't have too long to wait until payday. ANZ revealed that it is planning to pay shareholders this dividend on 17 December. Just in time for some Christmas shopping!
Based on the ANZ share price at yesterday's close of $32.57, the bank's full year dividend represents an attractive 5.1% partially franked dividend yield.
