As we covered yesterday, finding big-yielding ASX dividend shares on the market right now is a little trickier than it used to be.
Between some popular dividend stocks rising so high that they have nothing like the yields they used to (looking at you Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) and Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES)), and other dividend shares cutting their payouts (BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP)), the hunt for income has certainly become more onerous.
But despair not – the ASX still has quite a few dividend payers that offer decent yields to income investors. Today, let's talk about two examples, both of which offer strong, sturdy, and recently-raised payouts.
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2 ASX dividend shares worth a look today
Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS)
First up is an ASX dividend share that would be familiar to most income investors. Telstra has been paying steady, fully franked dividends for decades. These have proven remarkably resilient, holding steady throughout the COVID pandemic and increasing throughout the high inflation that followed in 2022, 2023, and 2024.
This, in my view, underscores just how vital telecommunications services remain in our modern world. As well as Telstra's dominant position in the Australian telco sector.
In its earnings report last month, Telstra increased its interim dividend yet again, this time up to 9.5 cents per share.
Together with September's final dividend of 9 cents per share, this gives Telstra a dividend yield of 4.47% at Friday's closing share price of $4.14.
Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL)
Coles is another popular ASX 200 dividend share and shares many of Telstra's defensive characteristics. After all, we all don't have much choice when it comes to regularly eating, drinking, and stocking our households with life's essentials.
As such, Coles has a highly inelastic earnings base from which it can draw its dividends. The company demonstrates this with its six-year streak (and counting) of delivering annual dividend pay rises.
In Coles' own earnings report this week, this trend continued, with the company hiking its latest interim dividend up to 32 cents per share. As is typical with Coles, this will also come with full franking credits attached.
Unfortunately for share market bargain-appreciates, Coles has been one of those ASX dividend shares that have seen significant price appreciation in recent months, which has had a depressing effect on its dividend yield. Even so, the company is currently trading on a decent yield of 3.4% at last pricing.
