George Weston dividend: cash coverage and yield
George Weston pays C$0.321768 per share in the latest quarterly payment, and annual dividends rose each year from 2021 through 2025. In 2025, the payout exceeded free cash flow per share by C$0.32, while the cash bridge shows dividends, buybacks and the rest.
How much does George Weston pay in dividends per share?
Base dividends per share move from C$1.34 to C$1.45 and then C$1.56. The bear case holds at C$1.29, while the bull case reaches C$1.36, C$1.53 and C$1.71. The latest quarterly payment was C$0.321768, and annual dividends rose each year from 2021 through 2025. The base therefore uses increases near the low end of management’s 8%–10% earnings framework. The bear assumes the board pauses increases, not that it cuts the dividend; the bull requires faster growth despite investment and financing needs.
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Real free cash flow per share | 4.19 | 4.01 | |||
| − Dividends paid, per share | 1.14 | 1.00 | 0.92 | 0.84 | 0.76 |
| − Share buybacks, per share | 2.57 | 2.48 | 2.42 | 2.29 | 1.65 |
| = FCF not paid out, per share | 0.16 |
Does the George Weston dividend come from its cash?
Revenue growth sits alongside uneven operating performance. Diluted EPS fell from C$3.52 in 2023 to C$2.62 in 2025, while the company’s own real free cash flow per share rose from C$4.01 in 2024 to C$4.19 in 2025. The 2025 payout exceeded free cash flow per share by C$0.32, making stock-based pay, buybacks and share-count change material.
Buybacks became Weston’s largest parent-level return. Across the five years from 2021 to 2025, buybacks totalled C$4.722 billion, compared with C$1.931 billion of dividends. In 2025 alone, buybacks were C$993 million and dividends were C$442 million. Shares outstanding fell from about 390.1 million to 379.5 million. Since 11.5 million shares were cancelled while only 0.9 million were issued for options, buybacks more than offset employee dilution.
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free cash flow | 1,697 | 1,672 | |||
| − Dividends paid | 442 | 399 | 381 | 367 | 342 |
| − Share buybacks | 993 | 990 | 1,001 | 994 | 744 |
| = Free cash flow not paid out | 62 | ||||
| = Paid out more than the free cash flow | 123 |
What this means. Our net debt includes the company's operating subsidiaries, while the company's published figure covers only the parent company, so its number is not a complete picture of what the whole business owes.
What could change the George Weston dividend?
Weston’s longer-range framework targets annual adjusted diluted EPS growth of 8%–10%. Loblaw guided to C$2,400 million of fiscal 2026 capital expenditures. Choice targets 2.0%–3.0% same-asset cash NOI growth, C$1.08–C$1.10 diluted FFO—property-company operating earnings adjusted for recurring cash costs—and adjusted debt to EBITDAFV no higher than 7.5x.
What is the George Weston dividend yield today?
Loblaw’s 8% to 10% growth framework is a useful benchmark, not a promise for Weston. Choice, parent expenses, taxes, financing and repurchases all affect the result. Weston’s free-cash-flow yield is 4.2%, its real free-cash-flow yield is 4.0%, and its dividend yield is 1.2%. Cash reaching the parent can also include proceeds from selling shares into Loblaw’s repurchase programme, so distributions and monetization should be separated.
| Today (Oct 16, 2026) | |
|---|---|
| Share price | 109.15 |
| Free cash flow yield (calculated) | 4.2% |
| Real free cash flow yield (calculated) | 4.0% |
| Dividend yield (calculated) | 1.2% |
What this means. The next twelve months price-to-earnings ratio uses analysts’ expected profits, so it is an estimate rather than a result the company has already earned.