BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) is up there as one of the biggest dividend payers in the world.
Over the last few years, the mining giant has be able to pay out tens of billions of dollars to its lucky shareholders in the form of dividends.
But what's next for the Big Australian? Are even bigger dividends on the way or will they be getting smaller?
Let's see what analysts are saying about the BHP dividend following the release of its fourth quarter update earlier this week.
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BHP dividend outlook
As a reminder, in FY 2023, BHP rewarded its shareholders with total fully franked dividends of US$1.70 per share. This meant the miner paid out dividends totalling US$13.3 billion over the 12 months, which brought the total paid out over the past three years to more than US$40 billion.
This equates to approximately A$60 billion, which is an obscene amount. In fact, it is more than the valuation of Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS) and over twice the value of Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL).
Since then, the Big Australian has paid out an interim dividend for FY 2024. It declared a 72 US cents per share dividend in February with its half year results and then paid it in March.
According to a note out of Goldman Sachs, its analysts believe that BHP will follow this up with a 70 US cents per share final dividend in August. This will bring its total dividends to US$1.42 per share for FY 2024.
But what's next for the mining giant and its shareholders? Let's see what Goldman is expecting from BHP in 2025.
FY 2025 dividend
Unfortunately, following the release of its quarterly, Goldman Sachs continues to believe that BHP will be forced to cut its dividend again in FY 2025.
The broker is forecasting a fully franked US$1.23 per share dividend for the year. This would be down 14% year on year based on Goldman's FY 2024 estimate.
At current exchange rates, this equates to a dividend of 183.4 Australian cents. Which, based on the current BHP share price of $42.66, would mean an attractive dividend yield of 4.3%.
Should you invest?
Goldman thinks investors should be buying BHP's shares.
This week, the broker has retained its buy rating and $48.40 price target on them. This implies potential upside of approximately 13.5% for investors over the next 12 months.
Combined with the BHP dividend, this would mean a total return in the region of 18%.
