Why is the Wesfarmers share price sliding lower on Wednesday?

The Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) share price is backtracking on Wednesday afternoon.

At the time of writing, the conglomerate’s shares are down 1.7% to $46.89.

Why are Wesfarmers shares in reverse today? 

On the back of the company’s full-year results, investors are selling Wesfarmers shares as they go ex-dividend today.

The ex-dividend date is particularly important as it determines which shareholders will receive the company’s latest dividend.

If you held Wesfarmers shares at yesterday’s market close, you will be eligible for the final dividend.

However, if you didn’t own them and bought them today, the dividend will go to the seller.

What does this mean for Wesfarmers shareholders?

If you’ve locked in the Wesfarmers dividend, you’ll receive a payment of $1.00 per share on 6 October. The dividend is fully franked, which means you’ll also get some bonus tax credit to put towards your next tax bill.

Notwithstanding the special dividend paid in December 2021, this is the biggest dividend that will be paid out to shareholders since 2019. In case you were wondering, the final dividend declared that year was $1.20 per share.

Are Wesfarmers shares a buy now?

Following the company’s financial scorecard, a couple of brokers weighed in on the Wesfarmers share price.

As reported by ANZ Share Investing, the analyst team at Goldman Sachs raised its price target by 8.4% to $38.90 per Wesfarmers share. Based on the current price, this implies a downside of 17%.

On the other hand, Morgans slashed its price target by 4.8% to $55.60 per share. This represents an upside of 18.5% from where Wesfarmers trades today.

Wesfarmers share price snapshot

Looking at the past 12 months, the Wesfarmers share price has fallen 22% on the back of difficult trading conditions.

In contrast, the S&P/ASX 200 Consumer Staples (ASX: XSJ) sector has dipped by around 2% over the same timeframe.

Wesfarmers shares reached a 52-week low of $40.03 on 17 June as volatility hit global markets. Since then, it has climbed slightly of late, up 17%.

Wesfarmers commands a market capitalisation of approximately $54.08 billion and has a dividend yield of 3.59%.

The post Why is the Wesfarmers share price sliding lower on Wednesday? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Wednesday
• Hoping to bag the next Wesfarmers dividend? Here’s what you need to do
• 6 ASX shares Morgans would buy right now
• Everything you need to know about the latest Wesfarmers dividend
• Wesfarmers share price lifts as earnings beat brokers’ consensus

Motley Fool contributor Aaron Teboneras has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Goldman Sachs. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Wesfarmers Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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