The last five years have been good to the BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) share price. In the meantime, the iron ore giant has been handing investors some pretty generous dividends.
Shares in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) icon were trading for just $30.81 in late January 2018.
Today, they're swapping hands for $49.54 – approximately 61% higher than this time five years ago.
That means a $5,000 investment back then would be worth $8,025.48 today.
But what about the dividends? Let's take a look at the total return – including dividends – a long-term investor has likely received from BHP shares.
Image source: Getty Images
All dividends offered by BHP shares since 2018
Here're all the dividends BHP shareholders probably received over the last five years:
| BHP dividends' pay date | Type | Dividend amount |
| September 2022 | Final | $2.55 |
| March 2022 | Interim | $2.08 |
| September 2021 | Final | $2.71 |
| March 2021 | Interim | $1.31 |
| September 2020 | Final | 75.4 cents |
| March 2020 | Interim | 99.4 cents |
| September 2019 | Final | $1.13 |
| March 2019 | Interim | 78.1 cents |
| January 2019 | Special | $1.41 |
| September 2018 | Final | 88.5 cents |
| March 2018 | Interim | 70.6 cents |
| Total: | $15.31 |
As the chart above shows, each BHP share has been the bearer of $15.31 in dividends since January 2018. That means a $5,000 investment in the stock back then has likely yielded $2,480.22 of passive income.
That also means our figurative investor has probably realised a return on investment (ROI) of around 110% in time, factoring in both share price gains and dividends.
And that could have been boosted if they had of compounded their dividends, perhaps using the ASX 200 company's dividend reinvestment plan (DRP). Not to mention, the fully franked payouts might have provided extra benefits come tax time.
BHP shares currently boast a whopping 9.35% dividend yield.
