Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) shares are among the most popular ASX dividend options because of the company's reputation as an ASX dividend share with a pleasing dividend yield.
The ASX bank share usually has a higher dividend yield than Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), though the yield is typically similar to National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) and ANZ Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: ANZ).
If an investor is searching for passive income, then investors may like the idea of Westpac shares over Commonwealth Bank.
Westpac has increased its annual payout each year since the COVID-impacted year of 2020, so it's pleasing to see the business has delivered regular payout growth for investors.
The FY26 half-year result was a good demonstration of the company's commitment to regularly paying a good dividend. Statutory net profit rose 3% year-over-year to $3.4 billion and underlying net profit rose 1% year-over-year to $3.5 billion. That profit generation helped Westpac hike its interim dividend by 1.3% to 77 cents per share.
However, in this article, we're not thinking about FY26's payments, we're going to look at the FY27 annual dividend, which will be paid in 2027.
Image source: Getty Images
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 $1.585, which could equate to a possible 2.25% rise year-over-year.
At the time of writing, that forecast translates into a dividend yield of 4.6% excluding franking credits and 6.5% including franking credits.
If someone were to invest $15,000 in Westpac, they would be able to buy 433 Westpac shares (with a little bit of money left over).
With those 433 Westpac shares, investors could receive $686.30 of passive income cash and $980.44 overall, including the franking credits.
Is this a good time to invest in the ASX bank share?
According to CMC Invest, there have been eight analyst rating calls on the business within the last three months.
Of those eight ratings, five were a sell rating, two were a hold rating and one buy rating was a buy. Therefore, investment professionals are, on average, negative on the appeal of the company's valuation right now.
The average price target of those eight ratings is $33.94. That means, collectively, those analysts are predicting the Westpac share price could fall by 2% (at the time of writing) within the next year. The Westpac share price has drifted slower since April 2026, so we'll see what happens next.
For now, there seem to be better ASX shares out there that Australians can buy.
