It’s all the time price maintaining an in depth eye on the ex-dividend dates for FTSE 100 shares. That’s as a result of traders want to purchase a inventory earlier than the ex-dividend date to obtain the following payout.

For these looking for passive revenue, 26 June is an enormous date. That’s the day British American Tobacco (LSE:BATS) shares go ex-dividend. The corporate has lengthy been one of the dependable FTSE 100 dividend shares, and at present’s 6.9% yield is a tantalising proposition.

Right here’s why traders ought to contemplate shopping for the inventory at present.

Dividend celebrity

British American Tobacco shares have an apparent dividend enchantment. The headline yield determine’s undeniably spectacular. Solely 5 different FTSE 100 shares beat it. The tobacco large’s subsequent quarterly dividend might be 60.06p per share.

Past the yield, there’s a lot to love in regards to the firm’s monitor report, too. Reaching seven consecutive years of dividend will increase is an admirable milestone for the agency, contemplating an enormous variety of UK shares lower or suspended distributions through the pandemic.

Trying forward, the goal is to pay dividends of 65% of long-term sustainable earnings. This appears sufficiently conservative to me to offer confidence within the firm’s future payout potential, albeit dividends are by no means assured.

A inventory going up in smoke?

Admittedly, British American Tobacco shares have their fair proportion of well being warnings. International smoking charges have been falling for many years, and stricter authorities laws on the sector are placing stress on profitability. Fears that cigarette manufacturing’s a sundown trade are well-founded. There are important challenges for the corporate to beat.

The enterprise has some credible solutions to those issues. It goals to generate greater than 50% of its revenues from smokeless merchandise by 2035. The group’s providing has come a great distance. Heated tobacco, vapour merchandise, and oral nicotine pouches are making an more and more essential contribution to the underside line, because of 29.1m customers. They at the moment account for 17.5% of the agency’s gross sales.

I believe it’s additionally too early to name time on cigarettes simply but. British American Tobacco’s working margins are nonetheless over 40%, and the corporate offset a 5.2% quantity decline in its combustibles vary throughout FY24 with price hikes.

Cigarettes are notoriously addictive merchandise and have pretty inelastic demand to price adjustments. Because of this people who smoke’ consumption doesn’t considerably change in response to price actions, equipping the enterprise with sturdy pricing energy. That’s an enormous asset because the group transitions to a extra smokeless future.

I’m holding my shares

I don’t dismiss the long-term dangers dealing with British American Tobacco shares flippantly. I wouldn’t need my portfolio to be overexposed to tobacco corporations. For my part, diversification is all the time price it to appropriately handle danger when investing within the inventory market.

That mentioned, I’m a shareholder within the firm and stay optimistic that it might probably proceed to innovate in growing and advertising and marketing its different vary of nicotine merchandise. It’s forward of a lot of the competitors on this enviornment.

After which there’s the bumper dividend. That is the principle cause I maintain the inventory, and I all the time reinvest the money payouts in different shares in my ISA. For traders who don’t personal this mighty FTSE 100 revenue generator, it’s price interested by shopping for it earlier than the ex-dividend date later this month.