It's been a wonderful day for the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) and most ASX shares so far this Wednesday. At the time of writing, the ASX 200 has surged 1.1% to 9,116 points after hitting a new intra-day high of 9,121.9 points. But let's talk about what's happening with Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) shares, perhaps thanks to the new Woolworths dividend.
The ASX 200 might be having a wonderful day, but it pales in comparison to what's happening with the Woolworths share price. The ASX 200 supermarket giant is enjoying a day for the record books. Yesterday, Woolworths closed at $31.54 a share. But this morning, those same shares opened at $33 each and are currently up by a whopping 11.1% at $35.04 at the time of writing. That's the largest single-day gain Woolworths has seen in a very long time.
The catalyst for this massive share price jump is clearly the company's half-year earnings report released this morning.
As we covered earlier today, there wasn't much to hate in this report. Over the six months to 31 December 2025, Woolworths reported sales of $37.14 billion, up 2.4% year on year. That included a pleasing 14.6% lift in the company's eCommerce sales. Earnings before interest and tax shot up 14.4% to $1.66 billion, while net profit after tax rocketed 16.4% to $859 million.
So it's not hard to see why Woolworths shares are leaping so enthusiastically higher this Wednesday.
But let's talk about the Woolworths dividend.
Image source: Getty Images
What's the new Woolworths dividend worth?
This morning, the supermarket operator revealed that its next dividend will be worth 45 cents per share. As is this company's habit, that dividend will come with full franking credits attached.
This dividend matches the final dividend that investors bagged in September last year, but represents a 15.4% increase over the 39 cents per share interim dividend that Woolworths investors received in April.
Investors who don't yet own Woolworths shares but might wish to receive this latest dividend have until the close of trade on Tuesday, 3 March, to have shares in their name. Anyone who buys Woolworths shares on or after the ex-dividend date of 4 March will leave the rights to this dividend behind with the seller.
Payday for this dividend will then roll around on 2 April.
Woolworths is running its dividend reinvestment plan (DRP) for this dividend too. Investors who wish to receive additional Woolworths shares in lieu of the traditional cash payment have until 5 pm on March to elect to do so.
Woolworths shares are currently trading on a trailing dividend yield of 2.4%, but today's announcement means we can assign a forward dividend yield of 2.57%.
