Well, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: JO) is falling. Again. So far this Thursday, the ASX 200 has slipped b another 0.14%, bringing the index down to around 7,300 points. If the ASX 200 finishes in the red today, it will be the third straight day of losses for ASX shares. But let's talk about the Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX: WHC) share price.
Whitehaven shares are seemingly taking a thumping today. The ASX 200 coal producer finished up at $7.51 a share yesterday. But Whitehaven shares are currently going for just $7.34 each, down by what looks like a fairly nasty 2.26%:
Yet other energy shares are enjoying some robust gains today. Take the New Hope Corporation Limited (ASX: NHC) share price. It's currently up by 1.92% at $5.30. Yancoal Australia Ltd (ASX: YAL) is also up by almost 2%.
So why is Whitehaven missing out on these kinds of gains that other coal shares are enjoying?
Well, there's a simple and rather pleasing explanation – the Whitehaven share price has just traded ex-dividend.
Whitehaven share price slumps after monster dividend rolls out
Last week, Whitehaven reported its earnings for the six months to 31 December 2022. As we covered at this time, these earnings contained some big numbers.
Whitehaven reported that its revenues for the period surged by 164% to a record $3.81 billion. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) also rose by an even better 319% to $2.65 billion, while net profit after tax (NPAT) rocketed 423% to $1.78 billion.
All this enabled Whitehaven to dial its interim dividend up to 11. The company announced a fully-franked interim dividend of 32 cents per share, a 300% increase on last year's corresponding payment.
But for any new investors wishing to receive this dividend, the ship has just sailed. Whitehaven traded ex-dividend for this upcoming payment this morning. That means that any shareholders owning Whitehaven shares as of yesterday are eligible to receive this latest payment. But any new investors from today are not.
As such, the value of this dividend has just left the Whitehaven share price, which is why we have seen a big drop in the shares so far today. This is the normal course of events when a company trades ex-dividend.
Eligible investors can now look forward to receiving Whitehaven's latest dividend next month on 10 March.
At the current Whitehaven share price, this ASX 200 coal share now has a dividend yield of 9.85%.
