But before these dividends can be paid, companies must first determine which investors are eligible for the payment. 

To do so, they set a cut-off date, which is also known as the ex-dividend date. This is the date that a company's shares no longer trade with rights to the upcoming dividend payment.

Tomorrow, three ASX All Ords shares with sizeable dividend yields will be turning ex-dividend. Let's check them out.

Best & Less Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: BST)

Today will be the final day to snare Best & Less' fully franked final dividend of 12 cents, which will be paid on 30 September.

The ASX All Ords share battled COVID-related store closures throughout the year, losing 11% of total trading days. The retailer estimates this led to more than $50 million of lost sales.

This saw FY22 revenue drop by 6% to $622 million but like-for-like sales were more robust, retreating just 1%. 

The retailer's gross margin edged higher to 49.1%; impressive given the backdrop of rising inflation.

On the bottom line, net profit after tax (NPAT) fell by 13% to $41 million.

In its first year as a listed company, Best & Less declared total dividends of 23 cents per share, fully franked.

Based on current prices, this puts Best & Less shares on an eye-catching trailing dividend yield of 9.4%. With the benefit of franking credits, this yield grosses up to 13.5%.

The final dividend alone prints out a dividend yield of 4.9%. So don't be surprised to see Best & Less shares in the red tomorrow when they no longer trade with entitlements to this dividend.

Spark New Zealand Ltd (ASX: SPK)

Spark shares will be trading tomorrow without an unfranked final ordinary dividend of 12.5 NZ cents. 

As part of a Kiwi tax regime, the company will also be paying a supplementary dividend of roughly 2.2 NZ cents to shareholders who aren't New Zealand residents.

Spark returned to growth in FY22 with revenue climbing 4% to NZ$3.7 billion and NPAT lifting 8% to NZ$427 million.

The company is currently in the midst of transitioning from its telco roots to a more diversified, higher-growth digital services provider.

It recently announced plans to sell a 70% stake in its TowerCo business for around NZ$900 million. If the deal goes through, the company expects to return up to NZ$350 million to shareholders through an on-market share buyback.

Since FY16, Spark has held its annual dividends steady at 25 NZ cents. But this is set to change next year, with management guiding for FY23 dividends of 27 NZ cents.

This represents a prospective forward dividend yield of 5.0% before the addition of any supplementary dividends.

Spark shares will soon be joining the ASX 200 ranks in the upcoming September rebalance.

Auswide Bank Ltd (ASX: ABA)

As of tomorrow, Auswide shares will no longer be trading with a fully franked final dividend of 21 cents per share. 

If you own Auswide shares when the market closes today, keep your eyes peeled for the payment to come through on 30 September.

Alternatively, you could forgo this cash payment and instead participate in the company's dividend reinvestment plan (DRP). A 5% discount is on offer and you'll have until 15 September to opt in.

Positive momentum continued for this ASX All Ords share in FY22. The bank's loan book grew 7% to $3.9 billion while its net interest revenue climbed 5% to $82 million.

Auswide's net interest margin (NIM) retreated six basis points to 1.94%. In comparison, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) reported group NIM of 1.90% in FY22.

On the bottom line, Auswide's NPAT grew 8% over the prior year, driven by home loan growth and margin management.

Across the financial year, Auswide raised its total dividends by 5% to 42 cents per share, fully franked. This puts Auswide shares on a trailing dividend of 6.9%, which dials up to 9.8% including franking credits.

The post 3 ASX All Ords shares going ex-dividend on Thursday appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

On this occasion, I'm going to look at the banking and financial sector. Here are a few shares they rate highly:

Australia and New Zealand Banking GrpLtd (ASX: ANZ)

Bell Potter's favourite major bank is ANZ due partly to its belief that there is greater upside for its dividends compared to peers. It has a buy rating and $24.50 price target on its shares.

The broker explained: "FY20 performance may have been impacted by large notable items and COVID-19 provisions but underlying performance was sound and included a better outcome in 2H20."

"With a normalised target payout ratio lower than those of its peers, we believe there is greater upside for ANZ to increase dividends and especially when APRA relaxes its current payout restriction. Credit provisions are higher than the sector average and support the potential for write-backs."

Auswide Bank Ltd (ASX: ABA)

Another (smaller) bank that the broker is positive on is Auswide Bank. It currently has a buy rating and $6.70 price target on its shares. Bell Potter has been pleased with its performance in FY 2021 and notes that it is outperforming its larger peers.

It commented: "ABA provided an upbeat four month trading update with earnings momentum having further strengthened since the end of 1Q21 and performance indicators that are sector-beating."

"This represents a dream start to FY21 that should comfortably ensure an unbroken track record for ABA in generating profitable growth. All FY21 targets are set to be exceeded."

Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG)

Finally, this investment bank is the broker's favourite in the sector. Bell Potter has a buy rating and $150.00 price target on its shares. It notes that its business model has positioned it for growth in the future.

Bell Potter explained: "Looking past the COVID-19 noise, this longer term "Cash and Growth" story remains intact. The way MQG's business model is split across annuity-style and markets-facing activities – respectively 70% and 30% of net profit contribution – strengthens resilience in withstanding market volatility and improves flexibility in being able to capitalise on higher risk-adjusted return opportunities when operating conditions normalise."

Another positive in Bell Potter's eyes is its strong capital adequacy. It notes that this is being underpinned by its strong organic capital generation and efficient asset utilisation.

The post Leading broker names the ASX bank shares to buy in 2021 appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

In other positive news, APRA has indicated it may also remove the cap on bank dividend payments. Additionally, Commbank CEO, Matt Comyn, noted last week that the housing slump risk to the economy had passed. A combination of factors fuelled the CEO's optimism. These included strong surplus savings of $100 billion, very strong housing application figures, and robust consumer confidence.

Adding to this is the motivation for house buyers, with the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) recently reducing interest rates to historically low levels. Lastly, the government proposes to relax responsible lending laws. With all of these factors at play, could the CBA share price be headed into calmer waters? There are, however, challengers in the mortgage space.  

Challenges facing the CBA share price

Into the mix of factors that could possibly impact the CBA share price, is the planned IPO of one of Australia's leading non-bank lenders, Liberty Financial Group. Started in 1997, Liberty boasted an $11.7 billion loan book at 30 June. In addition, Liberty delivers a stronger return on assets than any of its bank or non-bank lending counterparts.

Credit Suisse Group (NYSE: CS) is expected to manage the institutional book build, floating 20% of Liberty's value on the ASX at a price of $363 million. This values Liberty at approximately $1.815 billion with a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 11 times the lender's forecast net profit after tax and amortisation (NPATA). This P/E is lower than any other ASX listed non-bank lender.

For instance, non-bank lender Resimac Group Ltd (ASX: RMC) has seen its share price rise by nearly 45% in the past month. It is currently trading at a P/E of 14.47. Stablemate MyState Limited (ASX: MYS) has seen an almost 22% rise in its share price over the past month and has a current P/E of 15.13. Meanwhile, sector minnow, Auswide Bank Ltd (ASX: ABA), has seen a 19.6% rise in its share price over the same period, and trades at a P/E of 13.65.

Does the CBA share price have a moat?

A moat is Warren Buffet's term for an unassailable competitive advantage, invoking an image of a medieval fortress. And in the case of the CBA share price, one could argue it does have a moat against its non-bank lending counterparts.

First is the manner in which all companies obtain capital to lend. Non banks rely on a range of mechanisms. In the case of Resimac, for instance, it uses low interest warehouse funding for short-term capital and a global securitisation program for long-term funding.

Securitisation is where the company will add together dozens, if not hundreds, of mortgages and float them on the debt markets. Resimac has been a regular issuer of Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities (RMBS) since 1987. Currently, it pay 130 basis points, or 1.3% for capital it secures in this manner.

Commbank, however, is able to secure capital at far lower rates. For example, CBA is an authorised deposit-taking institution. It takes in deposits and loans them out at higher interest rates. This is the core of the bank's business model.

Second, banks have access to the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) $200 billion term funding facility (TFF). This is a facility that provides banks access to funds at the very low current cash rate of 0.1%. This is 1.2% lower than a lender like Resimac can access. 

Outside of consumer lending, Commbank has a range of other products and service lines that provide it with additional revenue streams and help to set it apart from some of its competitors. For example, Commbank is the largest digital payments provider in the country. Secondly, it owns 50% of the Klarna buy now, pay later platform in Australia and new Zealand. 

Foolish takeaway

Despite looming competition in the mortgage sector, the CBA share price appears to have some notable tailwinds. The APRA changes on capital holdings and potential dividend caps are a positive development, as is the uptick in the housing market CEO, Matt Comyn, has observed. But ultimately, could it be the bank's access to low priced capital that helps set it apart from the rising tide of non-bank lenders? Only time will tell. 

The post Will the Liberty IPO damage the Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) share price? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Auswide Bank shares have since settled to their current level of $5.82 per share, up 0.34%.

What does Auswide Bank do?

Auswide Bank was formerly known as Wide Bay Australia. Wide Bay might be a more familiar name for a lot of readers – the company has been in business for more than 50 years. As with any bank, the service range is vast. For Auswide Bank, this includes both personal and business products.

Formed in 1979 as "Wide Bay Capricorn Building Society", the company has evolved over time and in 1994 listed on the ASX.

Today, Auswide Bank's assets exceed $3 billion.

What were the highlights of the AGM presentation?

Today's AGM presentation included a number of positives.

Net profit after tax (NPAT) was up by 7.6% (including the effects of COVID), rising from $17.201 million in FY19 to $18.504 million for FY20.

NPAT excluding the effects of COVID was much higher. Today's CFO presentation highlighted that if the bank excluded the COVID impact, NPAT was actually up by 16.9%. This means that the FY20 result would be $20.114 million. 

The bank reported its net interest revenue is up 11.6%, which it attributed to strong and profitable loan book growth. This revenue stands at $70.516 million for FY20. Auswide's loan book growth in relation to this same point is up by 4.3%.

Auswide reported its deposits are up by 10.4%. The physical result of this was $2.62 billion in FY20 compared to $2.373 billion in FY19. This means that deposits now account of 74.5% of funding for Auswide. In comparison, in FY19, deposits made up 71.4% of funding.

One thing that fell away during FY20 was the bank's dividend. Total dividend per share for FY20 was 27.75 cents per share, down from 34.5 cents per share in FY19.

Strong FY21 results indicated

The company also announced strong financials for the start of FY21. 

Some early data (YTD October 2020 vs YTD October 2019) includes:

• NPAT up by 33.7%, from $5.569 million to $7.444 million
• Loan book up 7.9%, from $3.182 billion to $3.434 billion
• Net interest revenue up 11.7%, from $22.550 million to $25.194 million
• Deposits up 15.2%, from $2.442 billion to $2.815 billion.

Auswide share price summary

The Auswide Bank share price is trading slightly higher on this positive news today, but overall this year Auswide shares are more or less flat. However, the Auswide bank share price has seen a strong recovery since the COVID crash in March, rising from a low of $3.30 to its current price of $5.82, or around 77% in 9 months.

The post Here's why the Auswide Bank (ASX:ABA) share price is rising today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The top 200 benchmark fell nearly 1% in the first 15 minutes of trade but clawed back to be 0.5% in the black during lunch time trade.

However, the big banks remain under pressure after their big rally pushed them closer to fair value. If you are looking for attractive buys, you may need to look at their smaller rivals as brokers just upgraded three of them to "buy".

Improving margin

One stock that got moved to the "buy" list is Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd (ASX: BEN).

JP Morgan changed its recommendation on the regional bank to "overweight" from "neutral" today as it believes that the market isn't fully appreciating the upside.

"With COVID-19 infection rates under control in Australia and lockdown rules easing, there is increased optimism that the Jun-20 quarter trough in the economy will not be as bad as first thought," said the broker.

"Recent data have pointed to improvements in term deposit spreads. This is likely to continue."

JP Morgan's price target on Bendigo Bank is $8.10 a share.

Cum-upgrade cycle

Another bank stock that is under appreciated by the market is the Bank of Queensland Limited (ASX: BOQ) share price.

Goldman Sachs also upgraded its call on BOQ to "buy" from "neutral" as it believes consensus earnings forecasts are too conservative.

"We now have more confidence that BOQ will be able to reach its management target of broadly flat 2H20E NIMs [net interest margins], and sit c.8% above Bloomberg FY21E consensus," said the broker.

Goldman Sachs increased its price target on the stock to $7.17 from $5.51 a share.

Small cap bank buy

Coincidentally, another Queensland-based bank also got upgraded by Bell Potter to "buy" from "hold". This is small cap lender Auswide Bank Ltd (ASX: ABA).

Auswide is Australia's newest bank as it mothed from its previous form as a credit union called Wide Bay Australia.

The broker believes that if the re-rating were to be applied to Auswide, fair value for the stock would increase by 17% to $5.15 a share.

A re-rating is when the implied discount rate on a sector's valuation is lowered due to higher investor confidence.

Further, Auswide is also sitting on a reasonable forecast yield of 4.5% even after Bell Potter cut its forecast final dividend by 53%.

The post These ASX bank stocks just got upgraded by top brokers to "buy" – and they aren't the big four appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Auswide Bank is a deposit-taking institution and licensed credit and financial services provider. The company is located principally in regional and metropolitan Queensland, Sydney and Melbourne.

Strong profit growth and loan book growth

For the six months to 31 December 2019, the bank increased its net interest revenue by an impressive 10.9% to reach $34.516 million. Meanwhile, consolidated net profit after tax (NPAT) was also higher, increasing by 9.3% to $9.256 million.

Earnings per share increased 1.8 cents during the period to reach 21.9 cents, while a fully franked interim dividend of 17 cents per share (cps) was declared, up 1 cps.

Auswide delivered strong annualised loan book growth of 5.4% during the first half, well ahead of system growth of 2.4%. At 31 December 2019, the company's total loan book had increased from $3.019 billion in the prior corresponding period (pcp) to $3.216 billion. Auswide commented that these results were achieved despite a challenging lending environment.

Customer deposits now represent 73% of Auswide's total funding mix, driven mainly by strong growth in at call savings accounts which were up 24% on an annualised basis.

The financial service provider commented that South East Queensland and NSW markets remained strong. Auswide has benefited from improved brand awareness from its partnership with the Queensland Rugby League (QRL), which is now in its second year of operation.

Lending arrears were noted by the company to be continuing to trend downwards, which it accredits to the sound credit quality of its loan book. Current arrears of $12.2 million were down more than 54% compared to $26.6 million back in 30 June 2016. Auswide believes that this achievement reflects its ongoing focus on strong governance and risk management.

Auswide further commented that its home lending book remains mature with 74.3% of loans having a loan to value ratio (LVR) of 80% or less.

Strong net interest revenue

Net interest revenue of $34.516 million was achieved, up 10.9% up by on the pcp on the back of the company's strong loan book growth.

Auswide recorded a 7 basis point net interest margin expansion from 188 basis points in December 2018 to 195 basis points in the current half, with an expected upward trend in the next half.

Additionally, ongoing cost discipline delivered a reduction in the cost to income ratio from 64.8% to 62.9%.

Technology to combat cyber threat

Auswide commented that technology will be a key focus area going forward as it remains vigilant against the increasingly sophisticated cyber risks that face both the bank and its customers.

The financial service provider further added that it will take considered steps to improve its digital offering to clients, enhance its processes and ensure its security continues to meet industry standards.

The post Why this ASX bank share is trading higher today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.