Investors interested in getting hold of the big dividend that's about to be paid by Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX: WHC) shares need to be quick.
The ASX coal share last week reported a very strong first half of FY23.
Revenue jumped 164% to $3.8 billion, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) went up by 319% to $2.65 billion, operating cash flow improved 348% to $2.54 billion, and net profit after tax (NPAT) grew 423% to $1.78 billion.
Whitehaven's board decided to declare a dividend of 32 cents per share. This was a huge 300% increase from the prior corresponding payment of 8 cents per share.
But, despite only being declared last week, investors are nearly out of time to grab the dividend.
Whitehaven dividend deadline
When Whitehaven announced the details of the dividend, it revealed that the ex-dividend date is 23 February 2023.
That means that today is the last day for investors to be able to gain entitlement to that dividend. If investors wait until tomorrow to invest, they will miss out on it.
For investors who do buy/own shares of Whitehaven, the ASX coal share will pay the dividend on 10 March 2023.
But the dividend isn't the only way that Whitehaven is sending capital back to shareholders.
During the half year, 67 million shares – being 7% of the shares on issue – were bought back for an investment of $592.8 million, 40.1 million shares and $367.4 million in relation to the stage two FY23 share buyback approved by shareholders in October 2022.
Total capital returned through the second stage of the buyback for the half year and the interim dividend is $641.4 million, representing a total dividend payout ratio of 36% of FY23 first-half net profit after tax.
Yield on offer
At the current Whitehaven share price, the upcoming dividend represents a cash yield of 4.25%,
The grossed-up dividend yield is 6.1%.
Remember, this yield is after a 140% rise in the Whitehaven share price over the past year (which reduces the dividend yield). Plus, it is keeping almost two-thirds of its net profit within the business, rather than paying it out.
