The BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) share price was out of form in August.
During the month, the mining behemoth's shares dropped 2.5%.
This compares to a 1.4% decline by the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) over the same period.
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Why did the BHP share price fall in August?
The main drag on the Big Australian's shares last month was the release of its FY 2023 results.
For the 12 months ended 30 June, BHP reported a 17% decline in revenue to US$53.8 billion and a 31% decline in underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) to US$28 billion. This was driven by a combination of higher costs and lower commodity prices.
While a soft result was expected by the market, this was still short of expectations. The consensus estimate, for example, was revenue of US$54,363 million and EBITDA of US$28,072 million.
In addition, BHP's dividend fell a touch short of estimates in FY 2023. The mining giant's board declared a fully franked final dividend of 80 US cents per share, bringing its full-year dividend to US$1.70 per share.
This was a 48% year on year reduction and just short of the consensus estimate of US$1.72 per share.
Also potentially weighing on the BHP share price was management's commentary regarding inflation. After experiencing an effective inflation rate of 10% in FY 2023, BHP warned that the lagged impacts were expected to continue into FY 2024, particularly for labour costs.
Is this a buying opportunity?
Despite the soft result, a number of brokers remain positive on the mining giant. One of those is Morgans, which has retained its add rating and $51 price target.
Based on the current BHP share price, this implies a potential upside of almost 14% over the next 12 months. The broker also expects a 5.9% fully franked dividend yield in FY 2024, which stretches the total return to approximately 20%.
