If you're looking to get hold of the next BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) dividend, then you will need to act fast.
That's because it won't be long until the Big Australian's shares trade ex-dividend.
When this happens, the rights to the payout are settled and if you're not on its share register, you won't be receiving a paycheck.
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The BHP dividend
Last month, BHP released its half-year results and reported a 6% increase in revenue to US$27.2 billion but an 86% decline in profit after tax to US$927 million.
The latter was impacted by one-off exceptional items relating to its Western Australia Nickel operation and the Samarco dam failure. If you remove these from the equation, then BHP's earnings would have been flat at US$6.6 billion for the half.
This allowed the BHP board to declare a fully franked interim dividend of 72 US cents per share (A$1.10 per share) for the period.
While this is down 20% year on year, it still represents a total return of US$3.6 billion and equates to a payout ratio of 56%. It was also slightly ahead of the market's expectations.
Ex-dividend date
In order to receive this dividend when it is paid, you will need to be on BHP's share register before the ex-dividend date of Thursday 7 March.
This effectively means that you need to own its shares at the market close on Wednesday.
If you are on the company's share register and eligible to receive the BHP dividend, you can look forward to pay day later this month on 28 March.
In addition, if you're planning to stick around, you can expect to receive a 73 US cents per share final dividend from BHP later this year according to Goldman Sachs. This will bring the total to US$1.45 (A$2.22) per share for FY 2024, which equates to a 5% yield.
Goldman has a buy rating and $49.40 price target on BHP's shares.
