As we've just welcomed the 2024 calendar year, it's a great time to look back at the year just gone and assess how some of the ASX 200's best shares fared. As with any year, 2023 saw some shares surge in value while others went backwards.
But today, we'll be checking out the best ASX 200 dividend shares of the past 12 months or so, and the kinds of returns they allowed their investors to enjoy. Let's get into it.
The 3 best-performing ASX dividend shares of 2023
Collins Foods Ltd (ASX: CKF)
Chances are most Australians haven't heard of ASX 200 dividend share Collins Foods. But most have probably heard of this company's primary business – Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). It turns out that 2023 was a phenomenal year for KFC. Collins Foods saw its shares rise a healthy 64.68% last year, going from $7.19 a share to $11.84.
This was undoubtedly helped by the November half-year report that Collins dropped at the back end of 2023. This report revealed that Collins Foods managed to increase its revenues by 14.3% over the six months to 15 October. Underlying net profit after tax also surged by 28.7% to $31.2 million.
That helped Collins Foods to fund a 4.2% rise in its fully-franked interim dividend to 12.5 cents per share. Together with the August final dividend of 15 cents (also fully franked), Collins Foods ended up funding a record-high 27.5 cents per share in dividends in 2023.
Today, Collins Foods offers a trailing dividend yield of 2.46% at the time of writing.
Seven Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: SVW)
Seven Group is another ASX 200 dividend stock that had a cracking 2023. Seven shares ended 2022 at $20.97 a share. But a year later, those same shares were worth a much-improved $36.90. That's a gain worth almost 76%.
It seems the main catalyst for this turbo-charged performance was the guidance update we saw from Seven back in November. This told investors to now expect "high single to low teen EBIT [earnings before interest and tax] growth in FY24".
Income investors enjoyed the same 46 cents per share in fully-franked dividends in 2023 as they did in 2022 and 2021. This gives the Seven share price a trailing dividend yield of 1.27% today.
Ramelius Resources Ltd (ASX: RMS)
Dividend share and ASX 200 newcomer Ramelius is next. This gold miner had a stonking 2023, rising from 93 cents to $1.69. That's a lift worth 81.7%.
This impressive performance from Ramelius seems to be a result of a rising gold price last year, as well as some acquisitions by the company itself. No doubt, gaining entry into the ASX 200 club helped push things along as well.
Unusually for an ASX 200 dividend share, Remelius only funds one dividend payment per year. Last year's October dividend of 2 cents per share (fully franked) was a massive increase over 2022's equivalent payment of 1 cent. This gives Ramelius shares a trailing yield of 1.2% today.
