This week the shares of a number of dividend favourites including Insurance Australia Group Ltd (ASX: IAG), QBE Insurance Group Ltd (ASX: QBE), and Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) go ex-dividend for their respective pay outs.
While there may be still a few weeks until these dividends land in shareholders' bank accounts, I think now is as good a time as ever to plan what to do with these funds.
Two shares that I would consider reinvesting these funds into are listed below:
Aristocrat Leisure Limited (ASX: ALL)
If you're a fan of growth shares then I think this gaming technology company would be a great option. For a long time Aristocrat Leisure's main source of revenue has been its pokie machines. This remains the case today but may not be in a few years thanks to the impressive growth of its Digital segment. In the first half of FY 2018 the company's Digital segment delivered revenue of $428.5 million, up 230.6% on the prior corresponding period. This means it accounted for 26% of its overall revenue. But with 8.3 million daily active users of its digital portfolio and several key releases in the pipeline, I believe its growth can continue at a strong pace for some time to come. In light of this and the strength of its core business, I feel 27x estimated forward earnings is more than fair for a company with such a positive outlook.
National Storage REIT (ASX: NSR)
Investors interested in earning even more income might want to consider National Storage. It is a leading real estate investment trust which has been growing its network of self-storage units throughout Australia and New Zealand this year. It recently advised of plans to acquire eight new high-quality self-storage assets, bringing its total network to 130 facilities. I believe this puts the company in a position to take advantage of the increasing demand for self-storage services due to population growth and downsizing from baby boomers. Its shares currently offer a trailing distribution yield of approximately 5.4%.
