How does FT's current dividend yield compare to peer funds with similar objectives?

Answer

The press release you quoted tells us the size of Franklin Universal Trust’s (FT) next monthly distribution – $0.0425 per share – but it does not give the fund’s current share price, nor the cumulative dividend that has been paid out over the past 12 months. Because a dividend yield is calculated as:

[
\text{Dividend Yield} = \frac{\text{Annualized dividend per share}}{\text{Current share price}} \times 100\%
]

we need two pieces of information that are missing from the release:

1. The current share price of FT (or at least the price on the record‑date, August 18 2025).
   
2. The total dividend paid over the most recent 12‑month period (or, equivalently, the number of monthly distributions that have been made in the past year).

Without those data we cannot compute FT’s actual dividend yield and therefore cannot give a precise numeric comparison to peer funds.

How you could determine the yield and benchmark it against peers

What the press release does tell us qualitatively

• Objective: “high, current income consistent with preservation of capital” – this is the same language used by many high‑yield equity or closed‑end funds that target a 5 %–6 % dividend yield.
• Distribution frequency: Monthly, which is more frequent than most mutual funds that pay quarterly. A monthly cadence often results in a higher effective yield for investors who reinvest each payment.
• Stability of the payout: The release only mentions the next distribution ($0.0425). If the fund has been able to sustain that level for many months, the implied annualized dividend would be roughly $0.51 per share (as shown above). That figure is a useful starting point for a yield estimate once the price is known.

Bottom line

• From the information in the news release alone, we cannot calculate FT’s current dividend yield.
  
• To answer the question definitively, you’ll need FT’s current share price and the total dividend paid over the past 12 months (or the assumption that the $0.0425 monthly distribution will continue unchanged for a full year).
  
• Once you have those numbers, you can compute the yield and compare it to peer funds—most of which, for a “high current income” mandate, sit in the 4 %–6 % range. If FT’s yield falls within that band, it would be in line with its peers; a yield above ~6 % would suggest it is generating a relatively higher income (albeit potentially with higher risk or a lower share price), while a yield below ~4 % would indicate it is more modest relative to comparable funds.

If you can provide FT’s current price (or a link to its latest NAV) and the trailing‑12‑month dividend history, I can plug those numbers in and give you a precise yield comparison right away.