It certainly has been an eventful year for BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) shares and its shareholders.
Since the start of FY 2022, the company has completed a major divestment, announced plans to acquire OZ Minerals Limited (ASX: OZL), and delisted from the London Stock Exchange following the unification of its corporate structure.
But has it been a successful year for anyone that invested in BHP shares?
Have BHP shares been a good investment in 2022?
BHP's shares ended 2021 trading at $41.50, which means that if you had invested $20,000, you would have picked up a total of 482 shares.
At the time of writing, the BHP share price is trading at $44.60, which gives your parcel of shares a market value of approximately $21,500. That's a return of $1,500 or 7.5%, which compares favourably to the 4.5% decline recorded by the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) this year.
But the returns don't stop there. BHP is of course well-known for its big dividend payments and 2022 has been no exception.
In FY 2022, BHP rewarded its shareholders with fully franked dividends totalling approximately $4.63 per share. This equates to a yield on cost of ~11.2% and a payout of just under $2,232.
This brings the value of your investment to approximately $23,732, which represents a total return of 18.7%.
But wait, there's more!
Petroleum demerger
As mentioned at the top, BHP completed a major divestment this year. The Big Australian offloaded its petroleum assets to Woodside Energy Group Ltd (ASX: WDS) in exchange for a stake in the energy giant.
Shareholders received one newly issued Woodside share for every 5.534 BHP shares they owed. This means that our 482 BHP shares would have yielded 87 Woodside shares. Those Woodside shares currently have a market value of $3,350.
And let's not forget that the energy giant has paid a dividend of $1.40 per share since the demerger completed. This adds an extra $121.80 to our return.
Summary
Here's a summary of all the different returns from a $20,000 investment:
- BHP capital gains – $1,500
- BHP dividends – $2,232
- Value of Woodside demerger shares – $3,350
- Woodside dividends – $121.8
- Total return – $7,203.80
All in all, your $20,000 investment in BHP shares would now be valued at $27,203.80, which equates to a stunning return of 36%. Not bad for a bear market!
