Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX: RIO) shares have handily outperformed the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) over the past year, once you add in the dividend income.
Over the past 12 months, the benchmark index has gained a solid 6.5%.
Rio Tinto shares are up 1.7% over that same period.
But what the above chart doesn't tell you is that each Rio Tinto share has delivered $7.10 in passive income to investors over the 12 months.
If we add that back into the equation, you'll see the accumulated value of Rio Tinto shares is up a much more impressive 8.1% over the year.
And as the ASX 200 miner's dividends are fully franked, that extra $7.10 per share in income can see investors keep more of their earnings in their pockets come tax time.
Which brings us to…
How much passive income can I earn from $5,000 of Rio Tinto shares?
Before we dive into the maths, the usual precautions.
When we're looking at dividend yields, we're looking at trailing yields, derived from a company's payouts over the past full year. Future dividend payouts may be higher or lower.
When it comes to the passive income from Rio Tinto shares, future payouts will be determined by a range of company-specific and macroeconomic factors.
With that said, the ASX 200 miner paid two fully franked dividends over the past year, and it has done so every year over the last decade.
With commodity prices coming off the boil, both dividends were sharply lower than the prior year's all-time high payouts.
Over the last 12 months, Rio Tinto shares delivered an interim dividend of $3.837 per share, paid out on 22 September. The miner paid a final dividend of $3.265, which would have hit investors' bank accounts on 20 April.
As mentioned up top, that works out to a (rounded) full-year, fully franked dividend payout of $7.10 a share. That equates to a trailing yield of 6.3%.
At the current price of $112.85, I could buy 44 Rio Tinto shares with my $5,000 and have enough left over for a few large pizzas.
And based on the trailing yield, I could then earn $312.40 in annual passive income, as well as aiming for some further share price gains.
