Today is a good day to be a shareholder of BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP).
The first reason is that the BHP share price is outperforming the market today with a decent gain.
At the time of writing, the mining giant's shares are up 1.5% to $44.14. This compares favourably to a modest 0.1% gain by the ASX 200 index.
What else?
Another reason to be a happy BHP shareholder on Thursday is that today is payday for the Big Australian's final dividend for FY 2023.
Last month, the miner released its FY 2023 results and declared a fully franked 80 US cents per share final dividend. While this was down significantly on FY 2022's dividend, it is still the equivalent of a total return of US$4.1 billion (A$6.4 billion). And that's just its final dividend.
If you were on BHP's share register before it traded ex-dividend on 7 September, then you will be receiving a portion of this A$6.4 billion payout today.
The Big Australian is paying A$1.2506 per share in dividends in local currency, which represents a dividend yield of 2.7% based on where BHP shares were trading prior to going ex-dividend.
This means that if you had $10,000 invested in its shares, you would be receiving $270 today without lifting a finger.
Should you buy BHP shares?
The team at Morgans believes that BHP would be a top option for investors at the moment. It currently has an add rating and a $51 price target on the miner's shares. This implies a potential upside of almost 16%.
In addition, the broker is forecasting a $2.66 per share fully franked dividend in FY 2024. This equates to an attractive 6% yield at current prices.
