The Origin Energy Ltd (ASX: ORG) share price is heading south during early Tuesday morning.
This comes despite the energy giant not releasing any market-sensitive news today.
At the time of writing, Origin shares are down 0.70% to $5.66 apiece.
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Why are Origin shares falling today?
Following the company's half year results released on 17 February, investors are eyeing Origin shares as they go ex-dividend today.
Typically, one business day before the record date, the ex-dividend date is when investors must have purchased shares. If the investor does not buy Origin shares before this date, the dividend will go to the seller.
Historically, when a company reaches its ex-dividend day, its shares tend to fall in proportion to the dividend paid out. This is because investors tend to sell off the company's shares after securing the dividend.
What does this mean for Origin shareholders?
For those eligible for Origin's interim dividend, shareholders will receive a payment of 12.5 cents per share on 25 March. Although, the dividend is unfranked, which means investors won't receive any tax credits from this.
The dividend remains unchanged when compared against the prior corresponding period (H1 FY21).
The above payout figure represents 66% of the company's free cash flow and annualised dividend yield of 3.51%.
Management expects to restore partial franking for its dividends sometime during FY23.
Are Origin shares a buy now?
Following the company's H1 FY22 results, a number of brokers weighed in on the Origin share price.
The team at Macquarie raised its 12-month price target by 2.5% to $6.53 for the energy giant's shares. Its analysts believe that there is still more upside in Origin shares regardless of its mixed performance recently.
Based on the current share price, this implies an upside of about 14.5% for investors.
Furthermore, Morgan Stanley also lifted its assessment on Origin shares by 4.1% to $6.05 a pop.
However, JP Morgan appeared unimpressed with Origin's results, downgrading to underweight from neutral, and cutting its shares by 9.1% to $5.50.
Morgans had a similar take to JP Morgans's view, downgrading Origin to hold from add, and slashing the outlook by 5.2% to $6.23.
Origin shares price summary
Since the beginning of 2022, Origin shares have gained 8% on the back of rising energy prices.
The company's shares reached a 52-week high of $6.37 in February, before treading slightly lower thereafter.
On valuation grounds, Origin commands a market capitalisation of around $10.04 billion, with approximately 1.76 billion shares outstanding.
