The Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) share price is having a poor start to the week.
In morning trade, the investment bank's shares are down 2.5% to $205.80.
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Why is the Macquarie share price under pressure?
The good news for shareholders is that today's decline has nothing to do with the company's performance nor a bearish broker note.
Instead, the catalyst for the weakness in the Macquarie share price today has been its upcoming final dividend for FY 2025.
That's because its shares have gone ex-dividend for this payout this morning. When this happens, it means the rights to the dividend are now settled and that new buyers will not be entitled to receive this when it is paid out.
And as a dividend forms part of a company's valuation, investors don't want to pay for something they won't receive. As a result, a share price will usually fall to reflect this.
Macquarie dividend
Earlier this month, Macquarie released its full year results and reported a 2% lift in net operating income to $17.21 billion.
And with operating expenses largely flat at $12.14 billion, Macquarie posted a 5% increase in net profit to $3.72 billion.
This growth was driven by its client franchises, which performed positively during the 12 months. CEO Shemara Wikramanayake explained:
Against a backdrop of ongoing market and economic uncertainty, Macquarie's client franchises remained resilient over the past year, delivering new business origination and underlying income growth, contributing to our history of unbroken profitability.
This led to the company's board declaring a partially franked final dividend of $3.90 per share, which was in line with what was paid a year ago. This brought its full year dividend to $6.50 per share.
It is that final dividend that Macquarie's shares are going ex-dividend for today. And if you are eligible to receive it, you don't have too long to wait until pay day.
Macquarie is planning to pay shareholders its final dividend in just over six weeks on 2 July.
Should you invest?
The team at Morgans is likely to see today's pullback as a buying opportunity for investors.
Last week, its analysts responded to Macquarie's results positively and upgraded its shares to an add rating with a $223.89 price target.
This implies potential upside of almost 9% for investors over the next 12 months from current levels.
It also expects a dividend increase to $7.37 per share in FY 2026. This represents a 3.6% dividend yield, which boosts the total potential return beyond 12%.
