The Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX: RIO) share price is falling on Thursday after investors responded negatively to the miner's half-year results.
At the time of writing, the mining giant's shares are down 2% to $118.55.
Investors appear disappointed that Rio Tinto's underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) and interim dividend fell short of expectations.
Let's focus on the latter in this article – the Rio Tinto dividend.
Rio Tinto dividend disappoints
With Rio Tinto's earnings falling sharply due to a combination of lower commodity prices and higher costs, it was inevitable that the miner would have to cut its first-half dividend.
The company's board declared a fully franked interim dividend of US$1.77 (A$2.62) per share for the six months. This was down 33% on the prior corresponding period.
This dividend represents a total payout of US$2.9 billion, which equates to a payout ratio of 50%. The latter is in the middle of the company's target payout ratio of 40% to 60% of earnings.
When will this dividend be paid?
The miner intends to pay eligible shareholders this dividend in just under two months on 21 September.
To be eligible, you will need to own its shares before they trade ex-dividend next month on 10 August. After that date, the rights to the dividend will remain with the seller and not transfer to the buyer.
What could be next?
According to a note out of Goldman Sachs, its analysts are expecting Rio Tinto to pay a US$1.73 per share fully franked final dividend in February.
If this forecast proves accurate, this will bring the miner's dividend to US$3.50 (A$5.18) per share in FY 2023. While this will be down from US$4.92 per share in FY 2022, it would still be an attractive yield for income investors.
Based on the current Rio Tinto share price, this estimate represents a 4.35% dividend yield.
