The number is $0.42. WAL has declared that figure as a quarterly cash dividend per share, with both the ex-dividend date and record date pinned to August 13, 2026, and payment scheduled for August 27. The declared schedule is quarterly, and the question the tape is already answering is who gets positioned before August 13 closes.
What the declaration establishes
A quarterly cadence is a policy statement. WAL has structured this as a recurring distribution, not a special dividend, and that distinction shapes how income investors size the position. The filing carries no payout ratio and no forward guidance on future payments. What the market has to work with is the schedule: August 13 for eligibility, August 27 for cash.
Payment lands 14 days after the record date. For shareholders already on the register, that is a known wait. For anyone who misses August 13, those 14 days are beside the point.
The alignment of the ex-dividend and record dates on the same day leaves no slack. Buying on August 13 means arriving after the cutoff. The dividend for this cycle belongs to whoever held going into that morning.
The counterargument
The counterargument is that $0.42 per quarter is the story, not the calendar. Income investors building a yield position are not making a one-cycle trade. They are underwriting the assumption that WAL sustains this quarterly commitment over time. Four ex-dates per year is the rhythm they are buying. August 13 is one of them. The line to watch, on that read, is whether the declared quarterly schedule holds past it.
The argument earns its place. A company that sustains a quarterly dividend across several cycles is a different asset than one that declares once and pauses.
On balance
The case for acting before August 13 comes down to the calendar alone. Miss the record date and the $0.42 for this cycle does not come back. WAL has published a quarterly schedule, so the next cycle will carry its own cutoff and its own record date. August 27 is when the cash moves.