BHP Group Limited to Issue Dividend of $1.00 (NYSE:BHP)

BHP Group Limited (NYSE:BHP) declared a dividend on Thursday, February 20th, NASDAQ Dividends reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of 1.00 per share by the mining company on Thursday, March 27th. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th.

BHP Group has decreased its dividend by an average of 21.4% per year over the last three years. BHP Group has a dividend payout ratio of 45.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect BHP Group to earn $4.17 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 48.0%.

BHP Group Stock Performance

Shares of BHP stock traded down $0.70 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $51.42. 2,155,939 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,235,408. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $49.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $53.15. BHP Group has a fifty-two week low of $48.06 and a fifty-two week high of $63.21.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded BHP Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on BHP Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.00.

About BHP Group

BHP Group Limited operates as a resources company in Australia, Europe, China, Japan, India, South Korea, the rest of Asia, North America, South America, and internationally. The company operates through Copper, Iron Ore, and Coal segments. It engages in the mining of copper, uranium, gold, zinc, lead, molybdenum, silver, iron ore, cobalt, and metallurgical and energy coal.