It's a big week on the ASX share market this week for dividend investors. Huge.
Here on the Australian share market, the vast majority of ASX 200 shares pay out their dividends only every six months. That stands in stark contrast to other major economies like the United States and Britain. In these countries, quarterly dividends are the norm.
This bi-annual schedule means that when that dividend does come, it makes it all the sweeter.
And this week will be especially sweet for many ASX dividend investors. That's because there are multiple ASX 200 blue-chip shares that are imminently set to pay out their latest dividend payments.
Let's begin with today. This Thursday has seen the likes of Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX: NCM), and Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX: MIN) fork out. Not to mention BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP), Ampol Ltd (ASX: ALD), Ramsay Health Care Limited (ASX: RHC), and Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL) as well.
ASX 200 dividend shares shower investors with cash
Tomorrow, it's just as busy. There's Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd (ASX: BEN) and Perpetual Ltd (ASX: PPT). They're joined by Suncorp Group Ltd (ASX: SUN), Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT), and Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS), up for their own payments.
So it's a big week on the ASX for income investors. In fact, as reported in The Australian today, Shaw & Partners senior investment adviser, James Nicolaou, estimates that a total of $19 billion in dividends will be paid out by the end of this week. That's out of a total of $36.27 billion for this earnings season.
Of particular note are the dividends that investors can expect from Coles and Telstra. In Telstra's case, the upcoming fully franked interim dividend of 8.5 cents per share is the highest interim dividend investors have received in five years.
When it comes to Coles, investors will receive (or already have) a record dividend payment from the ASX 200 grocer. The interim dividend of 36 cents per share, fully franked, is the largest dividend Coles has ever paid and represents a happy 9% increase over last year's corresponding payment.
So I hope most readers are getting a big paycheque in the proverbial letterbox this week. It's certainly a good week to be invested in the Australian share market.
