Vedanta Ltd Dividend Record Date On October 16 Or Not? Broker Emkay Says BUY For Rs 600 Target Price

Vedanta Ltd's dividend is among the most awaited by the investors. The company had earlier announced that it would deliver a fourth interim dividend, and for that, it fixed October 16, as the record date. However, due to a new turn of events, Vedanta has cancelled the board meeting that will consider and approve the dividend per share. So does that mean, the Vedanta record date of October 16, 2024, is cancelled? Is there no fourth interim dividend payout at the moment?

Despite this, Vedanta is an attractive bet. The latest to show bullishness in the stock will be Emkay Global, who recommended investors BUY the stock for a high target price of Rs 600.

Vedanta Dividend Record Date:

Vedanta first pushed the date of the board meeting that was going to recommend the fourth interim dividend for FY25, to October 9. The initial date of the meeting was on October 8. However, then Vedanta announced the cancellation of the board meeting altogether.

And then later on October 11, it announced that the record date fixed for the fourth interim dividend, which was on October 16, " also stands cancelled."

Hence, Vedanta stocks will not turn ex-dividend on October 16.

Vedanta Dividends:

Whether Vedanta will pay the fourth interim dividend or not in the coming months of FY25, will be keenly watched.

For now, the company has paid Rs 20 per share as a third interim dividend for which the ex-date was scheduled in September 2024. Turning ex-date in July 2024, Vedanta has paid a second interim dividend of Rs 4 per share. While the first interim dividend was Rs 11 per share and for that Vedanta turned ex-date in May 2024 for the current financial year.

Overall, Vedanta has delivered a whopping 3,500% dividend valuing Rs 35 per share for FY25 so far. In FY24, the dividend payout was of 2,950% worth Rs 29.5 per share.

Vedanta is a top dividend yield stock in the metal and large-cap basket. Vedanta's current dividend yield is at 6.02%.

Emkay Global On Vedanta:

In its latest report, Emkay said, "We initiate coverage on Vedanta (VED) with BUY and blended TP (DCF and EV/EBITDA) of Rs600/share, implying upside potential of 21% to the stock price and dividend yield of 9%, which takes the expected total return to 30%."

Further, the brokerage added that its r investment case on VED is premised on 4 Ds:

1) Demerger - The group is in the final stages of a demerger process, which would split the group into 6 pure-play verticals. It said, "Our experience suggests that pure-plays trade at a premium to diversified miners."

2) (Project) Delivery - Vedanta is moving toward project completions and bringing them onstream in the next 12-18 months.

3) Dividends - VED has been a significant value creator for investors, delivering total shareholder return of 18.5% p.a. for the last 10 years.

4) Deleveraging - Should VED deliver well on the first 2 Ds, balance sheet concerns should ease at the company level as well as at parent VRL.

Looking ahead, apart from dividends, another key development that investors are eyeing in Vedanta is its demerger in the ratio of 1:6. Vedanta has received approval to demerger metals, power, aluminium, and oil and gas businesses to unlock potential value. After the exercise, six independent verticals - Vedanta Aluminium, Vedanta Oil & Gas, Vedanta Power, Vedanta Steel and Ferrous Materials, Vedanta Base Metals and Vedanta Limited - will be created.

Emkay said, "The proposed demerger is a key catalyst for multiples re-rating for Vedanta."