In brief:
- The AEX index, or Amsterdam Exchange index, is a stock market index composed of Dutch companies that trade on Euronext Amsterdam.
- The corona pandemic has caused a wave of dividend cuts in Europe and the Netherlands, especially in the financial sector.
- There are some high dividend stocks in the AEX-index.
- This article list some interesting high dividend stocks are those with a strong dividend increase policy
AEX-Index and dividends
The index has currently 25 constitutes and is a price-index, meaning dividends are not included. Four stocks pay annual dividends, which are ASMI (ASM.AS), IMCD (IMCD.AS), Arcelor Mittal (MT.AS), and Philips. 15 members pay twice per year dividend and the two large caps Unilever and RD-Shell pay quarterly dividends. Adyen, Just Eat/Takeaway, Prosus, and Galapagos don’t have a dividend policy.
In our previous article, we mentioned that several AEX stocks had to postpone dividends or even cut dividend. The Dutch central bank (DNB) and ECB requested the financial sector to freeze their dividend payouts. As a result, banks and insurance companies, ABN AMRO, NN Groep, ASR Netherlands, Aegon, and ING group did put dividends on hold. Also, Real-estate company Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield did cut its dividend by 50%. Randstad also cuts dividend for the fiscal year 2019, to be paid in 2020.
The good news is that NN Group and ASR Netherlands received approval from the Dutch Central Bank (DNB) to pay dividends in 2020.
The updated table below lists the dividend-paying stock in the AEX-index with their trailing twelve months dividend yield, PE-ratio, and 5 years dividend growth. Please notice the stocks with a dividend alert are colored red. Those dividend stocks are at risk (e.g. URW.AS) for cutting or postponing their dividend. As a result, the future dividend yield can be lower or even zero!
High Yielding AEX dividend Stocks
Looking beyond the recent dividend cuts, there are some high dividend stocks in this Dutch index. When excluding the at-risk stocks, there is the top-5:
- NN Group – 6.8% dividend yield
- ASR Netherlands – 5.4% dividend yield
- KPN – 5.3% dividend yield
- Ahold Delhaize – 3.8% dividend yield
- Unilever – 3.1% dividend yield
Worthwhile mentioning are also dividend stocks with a solid dividend increase policy track-record, which are:
- Unilever
- RELX
- Wolters Kluwer
- Ahold Delhaize
Members can use the AEX-index stock screener.
Other Sources of Dividend Investment Ideas
The Dividend Aristocrats list is not the only way to quickly screen for businesses that regularly pay rising dividends.
- The Dividend Kings List is even more exclusive than the Dividend Aristocrats. It is comprised of less than 20 businesses with 50+ years of consecutive dividend increases.
- The MoneyInvestExpert Defensive Aristocrats is a performance-based top-10 selection of the Dividend Aristocrats to outperform the market on the long-term.
- Portfolio lists like the Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio or Bill Gates’stock portfolio can be a source.
- For the European focused investors there is also the list of European Dividend Aristocrats.
- Dividend Champions are not necessarily members of the S&P 500 index, have increased their dividend for 25 or more consecutive years.
- 100+ years of dividend, the list of stocks that pay over 100 year of dividend can be an list of inspiration.
Next to selecting the right dividend stocks, important principles for successful long-term investing are Disciple, Diversification, Defensive & indeed Dividend. Read more about this in our free e-book.
Also, our monthly newsletter and premium member data will help you to invest smarter.
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