Following the stellar rebound from the June multi-year share price lows, the upcoming CSL Ltd (ASX: CSL) dividend is icing on the cake.
In late afternoon trade on Friday, CSL shares were trading for $175.68 apiece. That sees shares in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) biotech giant up a an eye-popping 90.5% since the stock closed at $92.24 a share on 3 June.
For some context, the ASX 200 has gained 2.5% over this same period.
Talk about outperformance!
But we were talking about the CSL dividend.
Image source: Getty Images
The clock is running on the final CSL dividend
CSL reported its full year FY 2026 results on 18 August.
And investors couldn't have responded more enthusiastically. By the end of the trading day, CSL shares closed up 17.3%.
As for the CSL dividend, management declared an unfranked dividend of $2.277 a share.
Now that's 7.1% below the FY 2025 final dividend payout. But from a yield perspective, it's important to remember that, despite the recent supercharged rally, the CSL share price is still down around 17% from this time last year.
Now the stock trades ex-dividend on Wednesday, 9 September. So if you want to bank the upcoming CSL dividend, you'll need to own shares at market close tomorrow, 8 September.
You can then expect to see that passive income hit your bank account on 2 October.
At the recent share price, this equates to a yield of 1.3%.
Adding in the interim dividend of $1.81 a share, CSL stock trades on an unfranked dividend yield (partly trailing, partly pending) of 2.3%.
Why did the ASX 200 healthcare stock soar on its results?
The big one-day gains posted by the ASX 200 stock following its FY 2026 results release wasn't driven so much by the past year's performance, of the final CSL dividend, but by a brighter outlook.
"FY26 has been a year of reset. We have taken decisive action and created a clear path to return to sustainable growth," CSL interim CEO Gordon Naylor said on the day.
Looking to FY 2027, CSL expects to achieve steady revenue, with underlying NPAT forecast to grow by around 5%.
Are CSL shares still a good buy after surging 90%?
Morgans' Damien Nguyen recently analysed the outlook for the resurgent ASX 200 biotech stock. And he believes it can keep outperforming (courtesy of The Bull) in FY 2027.
He noted:
CSL is a global healthcare leader with strong competitive advantages across plasma therapies, vaccines and specialty medicines. Demand for its products remain largely independent of economic conditions.
Summarising his buy recommendation, which bodes well for future CSL dividends, he concluded:
In our view, the latest full year result in 2026 is generating confidence that repeated earnings downgrades are behind CSL.
With defensive earnings, global market leadership and attractive long term growth prospects, we view CSL as an appealing investment opportunity.
