Many ASX investors are currently on the lookout for dividend stocks that offer large, upfront yields. For investors such as retirees who buy shares for the sole purpose of receiving dividend income, the past year has arguably been a tough one if you're searching for your next dividend investment.
The explosive rises in the share prices of popular dividend stocks like Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC), Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL) and Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) have been great for existing investors. But it has also pushed the dividend yields of these shares down considerably, making it tougher to justify new investments at today's pricing.
CBA shares, for example, used to trade on a dividend yield of between 4-5% a few years ago. Today, it offers a rather paltry (for a bank stock anyway) yield of just under 3.3%.
If I was after a high-yield income investment today, I would instead look to the Vanguard Australian Shares High Yield ETF (ASX: VHY).
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This ASX dividend stock is yielding 5.3% right now
This exchange-traded fund (ETF) isn't an ASX share. Rather, it represents an investment in a collection of shares, in this case, ASX dividend stocks that are selected on their income prowess. Vanguard doesn't just pick the shares with the highest dividend yields on the market though. It also screens potential candidates for their income sustainability and future dividend capacity.
This ETF's underlying portfolio currently includes around 70 passive income stocks. Some of VHY's current top holdings include BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP), Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG), Woodside Energy Group Ltd (ASX: WDS), Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS), and Transurban Group (ASX: TCL).
All of these ASX dividend stocks are what you'd be buying with VHY units. In a way, it's the perfect income investment, at least in my view, when you can't find an individual share to your liking.
Since the Vanguard Australian Shares High Yield ETF can only pass on what it receives in dividend income, its payouts vary from year to year.
But if you invested in VHY units a year ago, you would have received $3.98 in dividend distributions per unit over the subsequent 12 months. These were paid out quarterly rather than the usual six-month gap, which is the norm on the ASX.
At VHY's current unit price of $74.67, that $3.98 gives this ETF a trailing yield of 5.33%. That means a $5,000 investment a year ago would have resulted in an investor bagging approximately $266 in dividend income over the next 12 months.
That's not a bad return, in my view, given what's on offer amongst the individual blue-chip ASX dividend stocks on the Australian market right now.
