If you own Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) shares, then no doubt earnings season has some added significance for you when it comes to the Fortescue dividend.
Fortescue has been one of the most prolific dividend payers within the top echelons of the ASX 200 in recent years. That's mostly thanks to booming iron ore revenues.
Remember, this company went from paying 23 cents per share in dividends in 2018 to $3.58 per share in 2021. However, recent years haven't quite been as lucrative.
Earlier this week, we explored Fortescue's latest earnings report, covering the full 2023 financial year. As we went through at the time, these earnings saw Fortescue reveal a 3% drop in revenues to US$16.87 billion. This was alongside an 11% fall in underlying net profit after tax (NPAT) to US$5.5 billion.
The result was a final dividend of $1 per share, fully franked, being declared. It brings Fortescue's full-year dividends for 2023 to $1.75 per share, which is a 15.5% drop from the $2.07 per share investors enjoyed last year.
Even so, this dividend still represents a big chunk of change. This is reflected in the current (and fully franked) Fortescue dividend yield of 8.17%.
So what do investors have to do if they want to secure this chunky payout?
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How to secure the next Fortescue Metals dividend
Well, it's simple. They need to own Fortescue shares before the company's upcoming ex-dividend date.
A company's ex-dividend date is the day that new investors become eligible for an upcoming dividend. As is the case with any ASX dividend payment, investors who own the company's shares before the ex-dividend date get to receive the latest dividend. But any investor who buys shares on the ex-dividend date or afterwards misses out.
This is why we tend to see a big drop in share price when a company trades ex-dividend. It reflects the inherent loss of value from the divided eligibility closing.
In Fortescue's case, the latest ex-dividend date for this upcoming $1 per share dividend is set for next Monday, 4 September. This means that any investor wishing to bag this latest payout from Fortescue will need to own shares as of the close of trading tomorrow. Anyone who buys the share from Monday onwards will miss out this time.
Eligible investors then have until Wednesday, 6 September, to opt for the available dividend reinvestment plan (DRP). That's if they wish to receive additional Fortescue shares in lieu of the normal cash payment.
The Fortescue share price has had a bumpy but still positive year in 2023 to date, rising by just over 5%:
