Given how low interest rates have gone, it certainly is fortunate that the Australian share market is home to a large number of shares paying generous dividends to shareholders.
Perhaps the hardest thing to do is to decide which of the many quality dividend shares you should buy.
To narrow things down I have picked out three top dividend shares that I would buy this week:
Accent Group Ltd (ASX: AX1)
Accent Group is a footwear-focused retail group which has delivered strong profit growth so far in FY 2019 thanks to a combination of increasing sales and widening margins. Considering the company achieved this in a very weak retail sector, I'm optimistic that it will continue its strong form in FY 2020 if tax cuts and the improving housing market have a positive impact on consumer sentiment. This could mean Accent is well-placed to increase its dividend over the coming years. At present its shares provide a trailing fully franked 5.5% dividend yield.
Stockland Corporation Ltd (ASX: SGP)
Another top dividend option to consider is Stockland. It is a diversified Australian property company which owns, manages, and develops shopping centres, housing estates, industrial estates, and retirement villages. In FY 2019 the company is targeting FFO per security growth of ~5%. Thanks to this solid growth, the Stockland board has declared a final distribution of 14.1 cents per security. This brought its full year distribution to 27.6 cents per security, which equates to a 6.3% distribution yield.
Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS)
I think this telco giant is worth considering due to its focus on cost savings and productivity. The benefits of this focus are expected to help offset weakness in other areas of its business such as NBN margins. And combined with the launch of 5G and the return of rational competition in the telco market, I feel Telstra could return to underlying growth as soon as FY 2020. Based on the assumption that the company cuts its final dividend to 8 cents per share, I estimate that Telstra's shares currently offer a forward fully franked 4.2% dividend yield.
