With the Australian market one of the world's more generous dividend payers, there is undoubtedly a lot of choice for investors.
Thankfully this morning to save you the hassle of finding them yourself, brokers have kindly recommended two dividend shares which they rate as buys today.
According to CommSec, these two dividend shares have just been upgraded by brokers:
G8 Education Ltd (ASX: GEM)
I have said it before and I'll no doubt say it many times again. In my opinion, childcare operator G8 Education is one of the best dividend shares on the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO).
The company's shares are expected to pay an estimated fully franked 6.4% dividend in FY 2016, and were just upgraded to a consensus strong buy recommendation.
Last year the company added 44 new centres and 13,697 licensed places to its books. This meant that as of the end of 2015, G8 Education owned 471 centres in Australia and 18 centres in Singapore, with a total of 35,221 licensed places.
Despite its size, I still believe there is room for a lot more growth with research showing an addressable market of 4,000 centres in Australia.
Both revenue and earnings per share have grown for an impressive nine consecutive years. Thanks to its aggressive expansion through acquisition, I believe G8 Education will continue growing its top and bottom lines for many years to come. This makes it a great investment today in my view.
Tower Limited (Australia) (ASX: TWR)
Following the release of its half-year report last week, brokers have upgraded the company behind New Zealand's TOWER Insurance to a buy.
Whilst the company delivered a half-year underlying profit of $7.6 million on net earned premiums of $127 million, I would imagine it was its dividend that caught the eye of brokers.
The provider of insurance products and services throughout New Zealand and the Pacific Islands declared a 7.9 Australian cents interim dividend. Even better was the news that management believes the solid condition of its balance sheet will enable it to at least maintain its full year dividend of 14.5 cents per share.
This means that the shares are currently paying an estimated unfranked 10.6% full year dividend. Making it worth considering as an alternative to likes of Insurance Australia Group Ltd (ASX: IAG) and QBE Insurance Group Ltd (ASX: QBE).
