Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) shares may be one of the most popular dividend options because of the company's perceived stability and dividend yield.
The ASX bank share usually has a higher dividend yield than competitors like Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) and Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG), and a similar yield to names like National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) and ANZ Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: ANZ).
Westpac has significantly increased its payout since the COVID-19 pandemic headwinds in 2020.
The recent FY26 half-year result was another example of the ASX bank's share stability for shareholders and its ability to regularly increase its dividends.
In the HY26 result, Westpac hiked its interim dividend per share by 1.3% to 77 cents after a 1% year-over-year rise of the underlying net profit after tax (NPAT) to $3.5 billion.
In this article, we're going to look at the annual FY27 dividend, which will be paid in 2027.
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2027 dividend projection for owners of Westpac shares
According to the projection on CMC Invest, the ASX bank share is projected to pay an annual dividend per share of $1.625 in the 2027 financial year.
At the time of writing, this forecast translates into a dividend yield of 4.2% excluding franking credits and a grossed-up dividend yield of 6% including franking credits.
If someone were to invest $8,000 in Westpac, they would be able to buy 205 Westpac shares (with a little bit of money left over).
With those 205 Westpac shares, investors could receive $333.13 of cash and $475.89 overall, including the franking credits.
Is this a good time to invest in the ASX bank share?
According to CMC Invest, there have been nine analyst ratings calls on the business in the last three months.
Of those nine, six of them were a sell and three of them were a hold. So, the investment professionals are largely negative on the appeal of the company's valuation right now.
The average price target of those nine ratings is $35.14. That means, collectively, those analysts are predicting the Westpac share price could fall by around 10% within the next year.
Earlier in May, the Westpac share price had fallen to below $38, but it has since jumped higher after the FY26 half-year result and a higher prospect of interest rate rises amid stronger inflation.
For now, there seem to be more compelling ASX shares out there to buy.
