BHP Group Limited Plans Dividend of $1.00 (NYSE:BHP)

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

BHP Group has decreased its dividend by an average of 21.4% annually over the last three years. BHP Group has a dividend payout ratio of 45.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research 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 Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of BHP stock traded down $0.70 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $51.42. The company had a trading volume of 2,155,939 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,235,408. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.29. BHP Group has a twelve month low of $48.06 and a twelve month high of $63.21. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $49.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.15.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on BHP shares. StockNews.com cut BHP Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report 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 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus 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.