The BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) share price has registered strong gains over the past few years. This comes despite the world's largest miner suffering a few hiccups along the way, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nonetheless, BHP has created wealth for investors who bought and held its shares over the long term.
Below, we calculate how much you would have made if you'd bought $10,000 worth of BHP shares five years ago.
What's happening with BHP in 2022?
Since the start of the year, the BHP share price has posted a return of almost 25%.
The ascent of iron ore prices is providing a strong support base for the company's margins. Regarded as a key commodity in BHP's portfolio, this is particularly important given a majority of the company's revenues come from the steelmaking ingredient.
Currently, the price of iron ore is fetching US$151.50 per tonne, up 30.64% in the past four months.
It's worth noting that in the financial year ending 31 December 2021, iron ore accounted for more than half of the total group revenue for BHP.
So, how much would you have if you'd invested $10,000 5 years ago?
If you'd invested $10,000 into BHP shares in 2017, you would have picked them up for approximately $25.73 a piece. This equates to about 388 shares without topping up along the way during the down periods.
Fast-forward to today, the current BHP share price is $51.45. This means those 388 shares would be worth $19,962.60.
Not a bad effort — almost doubling your initial investment in what is arguably one of the ASX's most safe and reliable companies.
When looking at percentage terms, this implies an average yearly return of 14.83%. In comparison, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has given back roughly 4.89% over the same timeframe.
What about the dividends?
Over the course of the last five years, BHP has made a total of 12 dividend payments from March 2017 to March 2022.
Adding up those 12 dividends payments gives us an amount of $13.8421 per share. Calculating the number of shares owned by the total dividend payment gives us a figure of $5,370.73.
When putting both the initial investment gains and dividend distribution, an investor would have $25,333.33 worth of BHP shares.
In comparison, investing the same amount in an ASX 200 index-tracking fund would have netted you a total figure of $12,649.63 (albeit excluding any dividends).
BHP share price summary
Over the past 12 months, BHP shares have stormed 10% higher following a rollercoaster ride for investors.
The company's shares were heavily sold off in August 2021 after reaching an all-time high of $54.55. Since then, its shares hit a 52-week low of $35.56 in November, before surging back up again near their record high.
Based on today's price, BHP presides a market capitalisation of roughly $261.62 billion and has approximately 5.06 billion shares outstanding.
