BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) shares are having a subdued session on Tuesday.
In afternoon trade, the mining giant's shares are down slightly to $45.97.
This follows the release of an underwhelming half-year result this morning.
What did BHP report?
As a reminder, BHP reported a 6% increase in revenue to US$27.2 billion but a sizeable 86% decline in profit after tax to US$927 million.
Though, it is worth noting that the latter was impacted by one-off exceptional items relating to its Western Australia Nickel operation and the Samarco dam failure.
If you take these out of the equation, BHP's earnings would have been flat at US$6.6 billion for the half.
What about the BHP dividend? Let's dig deeper into that now.
BHP dividend
The BHP board declared a fully franked interim dividend of 72 US cents per share (A$1.10 per share) for the six months ended 31 December. This represents a total return of US$3.6 billion and equates to a payout ratio of 56%.
And while this dividend is down 20% on the 90 US cents fully franked it paid in the prior corresponding period and is the smallest dividend since 2020, it was still slightly ahead of the market's expectations.
When is pay day?
If you want to receive this dividend on pay day, then you will need to own BHP shares before they go ex-dividend next month on 7 March.
After which, you can look forward to receiving the payout a few weeks later on 28 March.
Alternatively, eligible shareholders can elect to take advantage of the miner's dividend reinvestment plan. To do so, they need to let BHP know by 5 March.
