It's finally the day owners of Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) shares have been looking forward to for almost two months now – dividend payday.
Back on 26 July, Rio was one of the first ASX 200 shares to reveal its latest earnings. In this case, the mining giant released its numbers covering the six months to 30 June 2023.
As we covered at the time, this was a bit of a disappointing earnings report. Rio reported a 10% drop in revenues to US$26.67 billion, along with a 43% drop in net profits after tax (NPAT) to US$5.1 billion.
That enabled Rio Tinto to declare a fully-franked interim dividend of US$1.77 per share, a 34% drop compared to the same payment last year. It translates into a payment of $2.61 per share in Australian dollar terms.
This represents a big drop in income for Rio investors. In April this year, Rio forked out a final dividend worth $3.26 per share. And last year, Rio's interim dividend came in at $3.84 per share.
Even so, Rio Tinto shares are trading today with a dividend yield of 5.02%. So there's still plenty of income available to investors seeking it from Rio shares.
Rio shares traded ex-dividend for this latest shareholder payment back on 10 August. So if you owned Rio shares before that date, you're set to receive this latest payout today. If you've bought Rio Tinto shares since 10 August, you'll miss out this time.
Will Rio Tinto's dividends keep on dropping?
Fortunately for dividend investors, one major ASX broker reckons Rio Tinto will be able to bounce back its dividends in the coming years.
As my Fool colleague discussed yesterday, Goldman Sachs has given Rio Tinto shares a buy rating alongside a $125.20 12-month share price target. That's a good 7% or so above where the shares are today.
In addition, Goldman is predicting that Rio will be able to fund a total annual dividend of $5.38 in FY2023, rising to $6.28 in FY2024. If accurate, that latter figure would represent a yield of 5.37% at the current Rio pricing.
We'll have to wait and see if Goldman is on the money here. But in the meantime, most Rio Tinto investors have a dividend payout today to go and spend.
