There's one ASX dividend stock that's paid out a hefty $6.54 in dividends per share over the past 12 months.
Most income stocks on the Australian share market denote their dividends in cents rather than dollars. So, this dividend potential already looks appealing (although that's all relative to the company's share price, of course).
Digging a little deeper, we'll see that this particular ASX dividend stock currently sports a trailing dividend yield of 5.98%. Lo and behold, that yield also comes with full franking credits. So now we have a real debate on our hands.
This ASX dividend stock is none other than mining giant Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX: RIO).
Yes, over the past 12 months, Rio Tinto stock has doled out $6.54 in dividends per share.
That $6.54 total consists of the interim dividend of $2.61 that investors received this time last year and the interim dividend of $3.93 that was bagged in April.
Of course, Rio's latest interim dividend, announced last month, is about to supersede that former dividend of $2.61. The raw dividend level of US$1.77 per share was consistent with last year's equivalent payout. But thanks to a more favourable current exchange rate (at today's levels anyway), it looks like that dividend will come in at approximately $2.63 per share this year.
If that holds, Rio's annual payouts will rise to $6.63 next month.
Rio Tinto shares have already traded ex-dividend for this upcoming payment. But payday doesn't roll around until next month on 26 September.
But let's get down to business. Is this $6.54 ASX dividend stock a buy today?
Is this ASX dividend stock a buy for investors today?
Well, it seems that Rio's numbers have caught the eye of a few ASX experts.
The first is ASX broker Morgans. As my Fool colleague covered earlier this month, Morgans retained an 'add' rating on Rio Tinto and a 12-month share price target of $128. This followed Rio's half-year earnings, which impressed Morgans. The broker was particularly pleased with the miner's copper and aluminium operations over the half.
But Morgans isn't the only broker seeing value in Rio shares right now. As we also discussed earlier this month, Goldman Sachs is also rating Rio Tinto as a 'buy' but with an improved share price target of $136.60. The broker called Rio "an FCF [free cash flow] and production growth story in our view", pointing to the miner's copper operations in particular.
Pleasingly, for dividend investors, Goldman is also pencilling in a 6% dividend yield from Rio shares going forward.
So, it seems that more than one ASX broker is eyeing Rio as an ASX dividend stock to buy today. Let's see how the miner lives up to these expectations going forward.
