One of the ASX shares I've been buying most enthusiastically over the past year or two offers investors a rather bulky dividend yield today. As you may have gleaned from the headline, that dividend yield currently sits at a robust 5.24%.
That hefty yield also tends to come with full franking credits attached, meaning that, in grossed-up terms, a yield as high as 7.49% is potentially on the table when accounting for the value of those franking credits.
The ASX share in question is none other than Plato Income Maximiser Ltd (ASX: PL8). Plato Income Maximiser is a listed investment company (LIC) that specialises in providing consistently high (and fully franked) income to its shareholders. It does so with the regular payment of monthly dividends, which is a rather rare thing on the ASX.
Like most LICs, Plato Income Maximiser owns an underlying portfolio of assets (in this case, ASX shares), which it manages on behalf of its shareholders.
As one would expect, these shares are all ASX dividend heavyweights, including the likes of ANZ Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: ANZ), Fortescue Ltd (ASX: FMG), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS), and Medibank Private Ltd (ASX: MPL).
Over the past 12 months, Plato shares have paid out 12 monthly dividends, each worth 0.55 cents per share. That has resulted in an annual dividend total per share of 6.6 cents. With the Plato share price of $1.26 at the time of writing, this gives the company a trailing dividend yield of 5.24%.
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Why do I keep buying this ASX stock for its dividend yield?
It goes without saying that bagging an investment with a 5.24% dividend yield is appealing in itself.
However, there are other reasons I find this particular investment attractive. Firstly, I have confidence that Plato's management team will be able to maintain dividend payments at a relatively consistent level going forward, thanks to the company's robust stock-picking criteria.
As such, I don't worry about a dividend cut from Plato in the same way I worry about the income reliability of some of my other ASX dividend shares.
Secondly, the monthly dividend cash flow from this company is also appealing. Having a large dividend cheque arrive like clockwork every month is a fantastic benefit this company brings to my portfolio. Every month, I have the wonderful choice of whether to save that influx of cash, or to redeploy it into other dividend-paying ASX shares.
So I'm happy to keep buying Plato Income Maximiser. And if this company experiences a meaningful share price dip, I will regard it as a lucrative buying opportunity to secure an even higher dividend yield.
