It's been a bumpy but still overall positive day for the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) so far this Thursday. At the time of writing, the ASX 200 has inched 0.02% higher despite dipping into red territory this morning. But let's talk about the Treasury Wine Estates Ltd (ASX: TWE) share price.
Treasury shares appear to be having a pretty horrid morning so far today. Yesterday, the ASX 200 winemaker closed at $11.93 a share. But this morning, the Treasury Wine share price opened at just $11.74 and is going for $11.73 at present, down a nasty 1.68%.
So what's going on with Treasury shares today that is seeing this company underperform the broader markets?
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Why is the Treasury Wine share price being sold off today?
Well, investors need not panic. Treasury shares are falling today for the best possible reason a company can fall. It's ex-dividend day for investors.
Earlier this month, we looked over Treasury's latest earnings, covering the full 2023 financial year. As we discussed at the time, these earnings saw Treasury post a 2.2% drop in revenues to $2.42 billion and a 3.3% fall in net profits after tax (NPAT) to $254.5 million.
However, earnings before interest, tax, SGARA, and material items rose by 11.4% to $583.5 million, and Treasury declared a final dividend of 17 cents per share, fully franked. That's a 6.25% rise over last year's final dividend of 16 cents per share.
Treasury shares have just traded ex-dividend for this latest payment as of today. This means that any new owners of Treasury shares from this Thursday onwards are not eligible to receive this latest final dividend from the winemaker.
That's why we are seeing a meaningful fall in the Treasury share price today. This normally happens when a company trades ex-dividend and reflects the inherent loss of value from the dividend eligibility window closing.
Anyone who owned Treasury shares as of close of trading yesterday, though, can now look forward to receiving the latest final dividend on 3 October.
Treasury Wine shares have had a rough year in 2023 so far, falling 10.17% since the start of the year:
At the current Treasury wine share price, this ASX 200 wine share has a dividend yield of 2.98%.
