Fortunately, in this low interest rate environment, the Australian share market is home to a range of shares that are expected to provide attractive yields to investors in 2021.
If you're interested in adding a few to your portfolio, then you may want to look at the ones listed below. Here's why they could be dividend shares to buy:
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Sonic Healthcare Limited (ASX: SHL)
Sonic Healthcare is a leading medical diagnostics company with operations across the world.
It could be a good option due to its strong business model and positive performance during the pandemic.
In respect to the latter, in February Sonic released its half year results and revealed a 33% increase in revenue to $4.4 billion and a massive 166% increase in first half net profit to $678 million.
And while COVID-19 testing has been a key driver of this growth, the rest of the business performed positively as well.
Morgan Stanley is positive on the company. Its analysts currently have an overweight rating and $38.60 price target on its shares.
The broker is also forecasting dividends of 86.2 cents per share in FY 2021 and 89.2 cents per share in FY 2022. Based on the latest Sonic share price of $34.82, this will means yields of 2.5% and 2.6%.
Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES)
Another option to consider is Wesfarmers. Like Sonic, the conglomerate has been performing very positively in FY 2021.
This has been driven by growth across the majority of its businesses but particularly from the Bunnings business.
The hardware giant has been benefiting from home improvement-related government stimulus and the booming housing market.
Goldman Sachs is also a fan of Wesfarmers and currently has a buy rating and $59.70 price target on its shares. This compares to the latest Wesfarmers share price of $54.81.
The broker is also forecasting fully franked dividends of $1.88 per share in FY 2021 and $1.94 per share in FY 2022. This represents attractive yields of 3.4% and 3.5%, respectively.
