Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) is one of the ASX's bluest blue-chip shares, if we can use that rather tortured expression.
The industrial and retailing conglomerate has been around in Australia for longer than any Australian alive today. Wesfarmers is not exactly a household name. Despite this, most Australians would be intimately familiar with several of this company's underlying businesses. These include Kmart, Target, OfficeWorks, Bunnings, Kleenheat Gas, King Gee, and Priceline, amongst many others.
Over its long history, Wesfarmers has built up a solid reputation as a prudent manager of capital and an effective steward of its investors' wealth.
Despite this reputation, Wesfarmers shares have had a rough 12 months, though. After clocking a new all-time high of $95.18 a share in August last year, the company has been drifting lower ever since. Its current share price of $75.62 (at the time of writing) puts Wesfarmers down about 7.5% for 2026 to date, and down 8.5% over the past 12 months. It remains about 21% away from that August record high.
That's not all bad news for investors, though. As any good dividend seeker knows, a lower share price can mean a higher upfront dividend yield. So today, let's examine what kind of yield Wesfarmers shares currently have on the table.
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Wesfarmers shares: What kind of dividend yield is on offer right now?
At the current Wesfarmers share price, this ASX 200 blue-chip stock is trading on a trailing dividend yield of 2.83%. That yield is based on the last two dividend payments Wesfarmers has made to shareholders. The first of these was the March interim dividend, worth $1.02 per share. The second was the final dividend from October, which came in at $1.11 per share.
Both dividends came with full franking credits attached, as is Wesfarmers' habit. Both also represented healthy rises over their prior corresponding payouts, worth 95 cents and $1.07 per share, respectively.
Wesfarmers also paid out a special dividend alongside its final dividend last year. This was worth 40 cents per share and came fully franked as well.
However, all of this reflects what shareholders have already been paid, not what they will be paid if they buy Wesfarmers shares today. Of course, we can never know what dividends any company will pay until it declares them.
Fortunately, analysts are optimistic that the income from Wesfarmers shares is set to keep rising into the future.
Last week, my Fool colleague examined what analysts at CMC Invest are pencilling in when it comes to Wesfarmers' dividends. These analysts are predicting an annual dividend total of $2.20 per share from Wesfarmers over FY 2026. If accurate, that would give the company a forward dividend yield of approximately 2.91% at the current price.
Let's see if that prediction turns out to be on the money.
