In 2021, Fortescue Ltd (ASX: FMG) paid out a record amount of passive income. That record payout was driven by a soaring iron ore price, which topped US$220 per tonne in July of that year.
With profits also soaring, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) mining stock paid a fully franked interim dividend of $1.45 and a fully franked final dividend of $2.11 in 2021.
While Fortescue's dividend payouts have retraced from those all-time highs, along with falling commodity prices since then, the company's market-beating yield continues to attract passive income investors.
Returning to our headline question then, just how much dividend income would you have reaped by now if you'd invested $6,000 into Fortescue shares in early 2021?
Mining passive income from Fortescue shares
With the iron ore price flying higher in 2021, so too was the Fortescue share price.
Still, you could have picked up the ASX 200 mining stock for $21.79 a share on 29 January that year.
Meaning your $6,000 passive income investment would have netted you 275 Fortescue shares, with enough change left over for a fast-food burger.
With the iron ore price sliding to just over US$91 per tonne on Friday, the Fortescue share price closed the day at $16.12.
So, from a capital gains perspective, your $6,000 investment for 275 Fortescue shares in early 2021 would now be worth a rounded $4,433. Or a loss of 26.1%.
Now, let's add that passive income back in.
If you'd bought and held onto those 275 Fortescue shares since January 2021, you would have received the past eight dividend payments.
To be precise, you'd have received seven to date. But you would already be eligible for the final dividend of 89 cents per share. Fortescue traded ex-dividend on Wednesday. The ASX 200 miner will make that payment toward the end of this month, on 27 September.
Turning to my trusty calculator, those eight fully franked dividend payments work out to a total payout of $9.37 a share.
This means your 275 Fortescue shares bought in January 2021 will now have returned a rounded $2,577 in passive income.
If we add that back into the $4,433 current value of those shares, the accumulated value of your 275 Fortescue shares is $7,010, or a gain of 16.8% on your original $6,000 investment.
Which highlights the tremendous potential difference passive income from high-yielding ASX dividend stocks can make to long-term returns.
