If you mention ASX dividend shares to any ASX investor, chances are the first name that comes up is not the BetaShares NASDAQ 100 ETF (ASX: NDQ).
This exchange-traded fund (ETF) is well-known for its exposure to US-listed NASDAQ shares, which are heavily dominated by the tech titans of the US markets.
As such, this ETF is rather popular on the ASX. But it is not well-known for dividend income. For an ETF to pay out dividend distributions, it usually must first receive dividends from the companies that it holds.
An ETF can also fund dividend distributions from rebalancing its portfolio, but that's a conversation for another day.
So in the BetaShares NASDAQ ETF's case, this fund holds around 100 of the largest shares on the NASDAQ 100 Index. Although this index is dominated by US tech shares, it still contains more than a few dividend payers.
Let's now go through this ETF's top holdings. According to the provider, the BetaShares NASDAQ 100 ETF's current top five holdings are as follows:
- Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL)
- Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT)
- Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN)
- Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG)(NASDAQ: GOOGL)
- Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA)
Image source Getty Images
Does the BetaShares NASDAQ 100 ETF pay dividends?
So yes, Amazon, Alphabet and Tesla have never paid a dividend to their shareholders. But Apple and Microsoft have been established dividend payers for years now. Additionally, the BetaShares NASDAQ 100 ETF also holds other dividend payers like PepsiCo, Texas Instruments and Intel.
Thus, we can confirm that the BetaShares NASDAQ 100 ETF is a dividend-paying fund. But what sort of yield can investors expect from this US-focused ETF?
So over the past 12 months, The BetaShares NASDAQ ETF has doled out just one dividend distribution after skipping its usual January payment. This distribution came to 84.158 cents per share. On the current unit price, that gives this ETF a trailing dividend distribution yield of 3.06%.
Sure, that might not be as high as what some of the ASX-based ETFs have recently paid out. But it's certainly a strong effort from an ETF not known for its dividend prowess.
