Published on 8 May 2024 on Simply Wall St. via Yahoo Finance

Should Income Investors Look At Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE:BTU) Before Its Ex-Dividend?

It looks like Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE:BTU) is about to go ex-dividend in the next 3 days. The ex-dividend date is one business day before the record date, which is the cut-off date for shareholders to be present on the company's books to be eligible for a dividend payment. The ex-dividend date is important as the process of settlement involves two full business days. So if you miss that date, you would not show up on the company's books on the record date. Therefore, if you purchase Peabody Energy's shares on or after the 15th of May, you won't be eligible to receive the dividend, when it is paid on the 5th of June.

The company's next dividend payment will be US$0.075 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of US$0.30 to shareholders. Looking at the last 12 months of distributions, Peabody Energy has a trailing yield of approximately 1.4% on its current stock price of US$21.88. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. So we need to investigate whether Peabody Energy can afford its dividend, and if the dividend could grow.