The Australian share market is home to some of the largest mining companies in the world. But which of these ASX 200 mining shares could be top additions to your portfolio?

To narrow things down, let’s take a look at which mining giants Goldman Sachs is currently recommending as buys. Here’s what the broker is saying:

Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX: RIO)

Goldman Sachs believes that Rio Tinto is an ASX 200 mining giant to buy.

It is of course one of the world’s largest miners with a diverse portfolio spanning multiple commodities such as aluminium, copper, iron ore, and lithium.

Goldman Sachs reckons Rio Tinto is a buy because of its attractive valuation, strong free cash flow generation, and production growth outlook. It explains:

We are Buy rated (on CL) on RIO due to: (1) compelling relative valuation vs. peers, (2) Strong FCF and dividend yield with our bullish view on iron ore, aluminium and copper prices, (3) Strong production growth in 2023 & 2024, (4) Pilbara turnaround (~50% of group NAV), (5) Compelling high margin low emission aluminium exposure.

Goldman has a buy rating and $136.20 price target on its shares.

South32 Ltd (ASX: S32)

Another ASX 200 mining giant that Goldman Sachs is bullish on is South32.

It is a diversified mining and metals company producing alumina, aluminium, bauxite, energy and metallurgical coal, manganese, nickel, silver, lead and zinc.

Goldman Sachs is a fan of the company and has a buy rating and $4.90 price target on its shares. It believes its shares are also attractively priced, particularly given the huge dividend yields that could be coming in the near term.

Its analysts commented:

We upgrade S32 to Buy (from Neutral) on attractive valuation: Trading at ~0.95xNAV (A$4.6/sh) and on an implied TSR of ~29%, and an attractive NTM EV/EBITDA multiple of ~2.1x vs. the sector average of 4.5x. We assume the share buyback continues (at ~US$250mn p.a) and S32 pays out 50% of earnings (40% ordinary, 10% special dividend component) with the FY23 full year result. On our estimates, S32 is on a supportive dividend yield of c. 5% in FY23, increasing to 14% in FY24.

The post Goldman Sachs says these ASX 200 mining giants are buys appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Don’t miss out on these high yield ASX dividend shares: analysts
• Looking to buy an ASX 200 mining stock? Here are 3 reasons to consider South32 shares
• Experts say these 2 ASX 200 dividend stocks are buys for passive income
• What’s going on with Rio Tinto shares and lithium?
• Bought $5,000 worth of Rio Tinto shares last February? Guess how much passive income you’ve already grabbed?

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) started the week out on the wrong foot, falling 0.22% to close at 7,263.3 points.

It followed a similar slump on Wall Street on Friday. Major New York-based indices slipped between 0.1% and 0.3% amid news negations on boosting or removing the United States’ debt ceiling stalled, as Reuters reports.

The S&P/ASX 200 Real Estate Index (ASX: XRE) and the S&P/ASX 200 Financials Index (ASX: XFJ) were among today’s worst-performing sectors, falling 0.7% and 0.6% respectively.

But not all was bad on the bourse. The S&P/ASX 200 Energy Index (ASX: XEJ) gained 1% while the S&P/ASX Information Technology Index (ASX: XIJ) jumped 1.5%.

So, with all that in mind, let’s take a look at the top-performing ASX 200 shares today.

Top 10 ASX 200 shares countdown

The biggest gain on the index today was posted by BrainChip Holdings Ltd (ASX: BRN).

The ASX 200 stock rose 8.5% to close Monday’s session at 51 cents, despite no news having been released by the AI technology company.

These shares made today’s biggest gains:

ASX-listed company	Share price	Price change
BrainChip Holdings Ltd (ASX: BRN)	$0.51	8.51%
Kelsian Group Ltd (ASX: KLS)	$6.79	3.35%
Nanosonic Ltd (ASX: NAN)	$5.40	2.86%
WiseTech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC)	$73.01	2.54%
Sims Ltd (ASX: SGM)	$14.91	2.33%
Sayona Mining Ltd (ASX: SYA)	$0.235	2.17%
Santos Ltd (ASX: STO)	$7.38	1.93%
NIB Holdings Limited (ASX: NHF)	$8.29	1.59%
Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT)	$1.395	1.45%
Xero Limited (ASX: XRO)	$109.50	1.39%

Our top 10 shares countdown is a recurring end-of-day summary to let you know which companies were making big moves on the day. Check in at Fool.com.au after the weekday market closes to see which stocks make the countdown.

The post Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Monday
• ASX 200 energy shares charging higher as G7 nations stress ‘important role’ of gas
• Guess which ASX 200 director has been stocking up on company shares before they trade ex-dividend tomorrow
• Medibank or NIB shares? Only one is a buy according to Goldman Sachs
• Leading brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy today

Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Nanosonics, WiseTech Global, and Xero. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Nanosonics, WiseTech Global, and Xero. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended NIB Holdings. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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It’s never a good sign when short-seller interest in an ASX share is on the rise. Yet this is the situation that is confronting those who own ASX 200 lithium stock Lake Resources N.L. (ASX: LKE) this week.

Each week, my Fool colleague James takes stock of the most shorted shares on the ASX. Last week, Lake shares made the cut of the top ten, with 8% of the company’s shares being held in a short position. But on today’s list, we revealed that this short interest had risen by a significant 0.7% to 8.7%.

Short selling is a practice that enables an investor (usually a professional or institutional investor) to profit from a share’s falling value. The process works by allowing an investor who owns shares to ‘loan’ the shares out to another investor (the shorter) with a promise of returning them at a later, agreed-upon date.

The shorter then immediately sells the shares and buys them back at the agreed date. If the shares have fallen in value over that time, the shorter makes a profit.

So the fact that Lake Resources is one of ASX’s top ten most-shorted shares tells us that a lot of money is being wagered that the Lake share price will fall substantially going forward.

But why the big surge in short-seller interest over the past week?

Why are short sellers betting against Lake Resources shares?

Well, that’s hard to answer. There haven’t been any news or announcements out of Lake Resources itself, such as an earnings report or trading update, that might explain this surge in pessimism.

There are a few possible causes we can point to, however. The first is the news that a major international lithium company has just posted an unexpectedly soft earnings report. As my Fool colleague James revealed this morning, Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile (NYSE: SQM) released a quarterly update last Friday. This revealed softer profits thanks to a hit in demand resulting from high stockpiles across the battery supply chain.

Perhaps some investors anticipated this, and upped their short positions in Lake Resources shares accordingly.

The other factor is Lake’s share price. Lake Resources shares have had a tough year, remaining down more than 20% as of today’s pricing. However, the company is also up an impressive 45% since late April, when the company was asking just 42 cents a share:

Runs of that size over just a few weeks tend to raise eyebrows. So perhaps investors are betting that Lake shares will come back to earth over the next few weeks and months, and deliver some hefty profits for shorters in the process.

Whatever the reason for Lake’s high short-seller interest, it is certainly worth taking note of for any current shareholders.

At the current Lake Resources share price, this ASX 200 lithium stock has a market capitalisation of approximately $860 million.

The post Why is short interest in Lake Resources shares soaring? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Here are the 10 most shorted ASX shares
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Monday
• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today
• Are ASX 200 lithium shares approaching a ‘tipping point’ for ripper revenues?
• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Monday

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The good news for income investors is that there are plenty of dividend stocks to choose from on the ASX.

But if you’re struggling to decide which ones to buy over others, don’t worry. That’s because listed below are a couple of ASX dividend stocks that come highly recommended by experts. Here’s why they are tipping them as buys:

Charter Hall Retail REIT (ASX: CQR)

The first ASX dividend stocks that could be a buy is the Charter Hall Retail REIT. It invests in high quality Australian supermarket anchored convenience and convenience-plus shopping centres.

The team Citi is positive on the company and has a buy rating and $4.50 price target on its shares.

The broker likes the Charter Hall Retail REIT due to its “defensive net property income growth despite rising interest rate profile.” It also expects the company to be able to pass through higher inflation to tenants.

All in all, Citi is expecting this to allow the company to pay dividends of 26 cents per share in both FY 2023 and FY 2024. Based on the current Charter Hall Retail share price of $3.74, this will mean 6.95% dividend yields for investors.

Premier Investments Limited (ASX: PMV)

Another ASX dividend stock that has been named as a buy is Premier Investments. It is the retail group behind popular brands including Peter Alexander and Smiggle.

Macquarie is very positive on the company and has an outperform rating and $30.50 price target on its shares.

The broker was pleased with Premier Investments’ recent recent half-year results, noting that they came in ahead of expectations. Overall, it feels the result supports its analysts’ preference for the stock over other Australian retailers.

Looking ahead, the broker is forecasting fully franked dividends per share of $1.24 in FY 2023 and then 97 cents in FY 2024. Based on the latest Premier Investments share price of $24.60, this will mean yields of 5% and 3.95%, respectively, for income investors.

The post Experts are tipping these ASX dividend stocks as buys appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Brokers say these ASX dividend shares are buys
• These ASX income shares have very big forecast dividend yields
• How I’d try to turn a $20k ASX share portfolio into a second income of $6,000 a year
• 2 ASX 200 shares I’d buy for global long-term returns
• Why Citi says these ASX 200 dividend shares are buys

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Premier Investments. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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It’s been a rather rough start to the trading week for the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) so far this Monday.

After initially tipping into positive territory soon after market open this morning, the ASX 200 has spent most of the trading day descending into red ink. At the time of writing, the index is currently down by a chunky 0.14% at just under 7,270 points.

Let’s hope this session isn’t setting the tone for the week. But let’s now delve deeper into these market losses by checking out the ASX 200 shares that are topping the share market’s trading volume charts right now, according to investing.com.

The 3 most traded ASX 200 shares by volume this Monday

Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS)

First up today is the ASX 200 lithium share Pilbara Minerals. This Monday has had a decent 15.7 million Pilbara shares swapped on the ASX so far. There hasn’t been any fresh news or announcements out of Pilbara itself that might explain this volume.

However, as my Fool colleague James predicted this morning, ASX lithium shares are having a very rough day indeed. In Pilbara’s case, we’ve seen this company lose a notable 3.01% so far today, pulling Pilbara down to $4.84 a share. This comes after a major US lithium stock revealed some softer-than-expected profits late last week. It’s this steep selloff that probably explains this high volume we are seeing.

Tyro Payments Ltd (ASX: TYR)

Next up, we have ASX 200 payments share Tyro to check out. A large 15.96 million Tyro shares have been bought and sold on the ASX thus far this session. This is almost certainly a result of the big news we saw from this company this morning.

As we covered at the time, Tyro announced that suitor Potentia Capital management has walked away from four months of takeover talks. In response, the Tyro share price has cratered by a painful 15.6% at present, pulling the company down to $1.295 a share. No wonder we are seeing so many shares flying around today.

Sayona Mining Ltd (ASX: SYA)

Another ASX 200 lithium stock rounds out our list today in Sayona Mining. This Monday has had a hefty 26.94 million Sayona shares traded on the ASX so far.

After falling substantially this morning by more than 4%, Sayona has staged a remarkable recovery, regaining ground throughout the day to end up at the 1.09% gain to 23.3 cents a share we see at present. This extreme volatility looks like it is responsible for all of that elevated trading volume on display here.

The post Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Monday appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Guess which ASX 200 director has been stocking up on company shares before they trade ex-dividend tomorrow
• Monday blues: 3 ASX All Ordinaries shares crashing 10% or more today
• Why Galan Lithium, Metcash, Tyro, and Zip shares are falling today
• ASX 200 lithium shares could be winners as Biden calls critical clean energy metals the ‘third pillar of the Australia-US alliance’
• Tyro share price plummets 18% as suitor abandons takeover talks

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Tyro Payments. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Tyro Payments. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) energy shares are trouncing the benchmark today.

In late afternoon trade, the ASX 200 is down 0.17%.

But a strong performance from the top ASX energy stocks has helped send the S&P/ASX 200 Energy Index (ASX: XEJ) up 1.21% at this same time.

As for the leading ASX 200 oil and gas stocks, the Woodside Energy Group Ltd (ASX: WDS) share price is up 1.37% today.

The Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) share price is enjoying an even stronger run, up 2.14%.

The outperformance today comes despite a slight retrace in the crude oil price over the weekend.

So what’s piquing ASX 200 investor interest?

All eyes on the seven rich nations

I suspect it has to do with the G7 meeting, held in Hiroshima, Japan on Saturday.

Global energy security topped the list of discussions, with Europe still working to extricate itself from Russian gas exports.

In a move that was jeered by climate activists but will be welcomed by investors in ASX 200 energy shares, the group came out in support of increasing the global supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

According to a G7 statement, quoted by Reuters, increasing LNG deliveries is “necessary to accelerate the phase-out of our dependency on Russian energy”.

The G7 nations stated:

We stress the important role that increased deliveries of LNG can play, and acknowledge that investment in the sector can be appropriate in response to the current crisis and to address potential gas market shortfalls provoked by the crisis…

In the exceptional circumstance of accelerating the phase out of our dependency on Russian energy, publicly supported investment in the gas sector can be appropriate as a temporary response.

Though publicly supported funding for new gas projects was labelled “temporary”, that’s a far cry from the 100% renewable push most G7 officials had been touting prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Germany went a step further in throwing up some potential tailwinds for the big energy shares.

Reuters cited a German government official as saying, “We also need some new gas power station[s], but they should be built in a way that they can run on green hydrogen later on as well.”

How have these ASX 200 energy shares been performing?

The two ASX 200 energy shares have delivered markedly different returns to shareholders over the past 12 months.

Over the full year, the Santos share price is down 10% while Woodside shares are up 20%.

The post ASX 200 energy shares charging higher as G7 nations stress ‘important role’ of gas appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Woodside share price lifts as Germany flags need for ‘new gas power stations’
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Monday
• Are Woodside shares the greatest dividend buy of the ASX 200?
• How I’d invest $20,000 today for a $3,370 passive income
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Friday

Motley Fool contributor Bernd Struben has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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If you have room for some new portfolio additions, then it could be worth considering the three ASX 200 growth shares listed below.

Here’s what you need to know about these buy-rated shares:

Breville Group Ltd (ASX: BRG)

The first ASX 200 growth share that has been tipped as a buy is leading appliance manufacturer, Breville. Goldman Sachs is a fan of the company and believes it is well-placed to continue its solid growth in the coming years. This is being driven by the “strong premium coffee in-home consumption trend and competitive advantage in premium brand and product.”

The broker currently has a buy rating and $22.70 price target on its shares.

Lovisa Holdings Limited (ASX: LOV)

Another ASX 200 growth share that could be a buy is fast-fashion jewellery retailer Lovisa. It could be a top long term option due to the popularity of its affordable offering and its huge global expansion plans. In respect to the latter, analysts at Morgans have suggested that “LOV may just prove to be one of the biggest success stories in Australian retail. LOV is showing every sign of becoming a global brand.”

Morgans has an add rating and $28.50 price target on its shares.

TechnologyOne Ltd (ASX: TNE)

A final ASX 200 growth share that could be a buy is enterprise software provider TechnologyOne. It could be a top option thanks to its ongoing and highly successful transition to a software-as-a-service focused business. This transition has been going very well and management expects this positive trend to continue in the coming years. In fact, it is aiming to almost double its annual recurring revenue (ARR) to $500 million by FY 2026. However, the team at Bell Potter believes it will get there a year earlier than planned and is expecting a guidance upgrade in the near future.

Bell Potter has a buy rating and $17.00 price target on Technology One’s shares.

The post Analysts say these ASX 200 growth shares are top buys right now appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• I think these 2 ASX growth shares are a buy for 2025 and beyond
• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy next week
• Why Goldman Sachs rates these ASX 200 shares as top buys
• Analysts name 2 excellent ASX 300 shares to buy and hold
• Could ASX shares turn a $10,000 investment into $2,000,000?

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Lovisa and Technology One. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Lovisa and Technology One. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) share Elders Ltd (ASX: ELD) has seen one of its directors increase his position in the business just before the stock goes ex-dividend. This could be seen as a positive sign.

Elders is a business that works with primary producers to provide products, marketing, specialist technical advice, and financial products. It also acts as a rural and residential property agency and management network.

Let’s check the details of the company chair’s share purchase.

Director buying

There’s typically one main reason a director might decide to invest in their own business through an on-market trade – they think it’s good value and the business has a positive future.

Chair Ian Wilton decided to buy a total of 15,000 Elders more shares in his superannuation fund for a total cost of $103,350. This means the average price paid was $6.89, slightly lower than where the ASX 200 share is trading now.

After this investment, Wilton’s total holding had increased to 146,442 Elders shares, so he has a substantial amount of money invested in the agribusiness.

Elders shares’ ex-dividend date

A week ago, the business reported its FY23 half-year result which showed sales had grown 9% to $1.66 billion, but underlying earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) had dropped by 38% to $82.8 million.  Statutory net profit after tax (NPAT) had also shrunk 47% to $48.8 million.

The company said there had been a volatile agricultural industry backdrop, impacted by “softened livestock trading conditions, weaker crop input prices and unseasonably wet weather”.

The board of Elders decided to declare an interim dividend per share of 23 cents, an 18% drop compared to the prior corresponding period.

The ex-dividend date tells potential investors when they will no longer be entitled to the dividend if they were to buy shares.

Elders’ ex-dividend date for the upcoming dividend is 23 May, tomorrow. So today is the last day for investors to grab Elders shares and gain entitlement.

Investors will only need to wait a month before they receive payment. Dividends are due to be paid on 22 June 2023.

Outlook for the ASX 200 stock

Elders said demand for agricultural commodities is “anticipated to support favourable trading conditions in the second half of FY23″.

The outlook for its rural products is “encouraging”, the company said, and the outlook for its agency services is forecast to “improve in the second half but overall remain below FY22 levels”. Cattle prices are also expected to remain subdued due to volume growth.

In real estate, softer broadacre market conditions are expected to persist for the foreseeable future. However, the “strong performance” of the financial services business is expected to continue into the second half of FY23.

The post Guess which ASX 200 director has been stocking up on company shares before they trade ex-dividend tomorrow appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Monday
• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today
• Here’s what the latest jobs data could mean for interest rates and the Aussie stock market
• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Friday
• Why is the Newcrest share price sitting at 6-week lows?

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Elders. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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Medibank Private Ltd (ASX: MPL) shares have started the week in a subdued fashion.

In afternoon trade, the private health insurer’s shares are down a touch to $3.52.

This compares unfavourably to the performance of NIB Holdings Limited (ASX: NHF) shares, which are up almost 2% this afternoon.

Why is the Medibank share price underperforming?

The weakness in the Medibank share price today appears to have been driven by a broker note out of Goldman Sachs.

According to the note, the broker believes that the company’s shares are fully valued at current levels and has urged investors buy NIB shares instead.

Goldman has initiated coverage on Medibank with a neutral rating and $3.69 price target, whereas it has started with a buy rating and $8.80 price target on NIB’s shares.

Why NIB over Medibank?

There are a number of reasons why Goldman is recommending NIB over Medibank currently. This includes its growth outlook, valuation, and last year’s cyberattack. The broker explains:

We like NHF over MPL because 1) We expect NHF to have stronger ARHI underlying top line growth relative to MPL resident. We think this could be worth between 2.5-5% based on approved rate increases, policyholder growth and downgrading; 2) NHF is taking a more shareholder friendly interpretation to not profit from Covid-19 resulting in better reported margins vs MPL (see Exhibit 11) and lower policyholder giveback as a % of premium since the start of the pandemic – see Exhibit 4 ; 3) MPL’s Cyber security legal cases and investigations present some risk of higher costs, but we think the risks here overall are low;

4) NHF offers greater diversity of earnings with about 23% of earnings (excluding NDIS) outside of resident health vs MPL at 15%; 5) We do flag, however, that NHF is guiding down net margins in ARHI over time but only as earnings in its non-resident businesses recover more fully. To date, NHF has been reducing margins through a combination of higher expenses and lower gross margin. 6) We note that NHF and MPL trade at about 18-19x consensus earnings on FY24 vs historical averages of about 19x over the last 5 years for both; noting the favourable operating environment, we think it is possible that the health insurers can trade at a premium relative to history and arguably NHF ahead of MPL given its better growth prospects without the overhang of the cybersecurity incident.

Time will tell if the broker has made the right call.

The post Medibank or NIB shares? Only one is a buy according to Goldman Sachs appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended NIB Holdings. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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Finding the greatest dividend share on the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is no easy task. The ASX 200 has dozens and dozens of dividend shares within it. And many are popular with good reason. 

The likes of Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS) and BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) have been showering investors with healthy dividends for decades.

But none of these I would call the ASX 200’s greatest divided share. Ditto with Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW), Woodside Energy Group Ltd (ASX: WDS) or Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC). All are decent companies, but I wouldn’t put any of them on a pedestal above the rest.

But when it comes to Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co Ltd (ASX: SOL), this is a share I simply cannot find a fault with.

What makes Soul Patts a unique winner?

Soul Patts, as it is more easily known, is an ASX 200 investment house. It has been on the ASX boards for almost as long as the ASX has existed. In fact, its roots predate Federation.

Back in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Soul Patts was primarily a pharmaceutical chain. But today, it is a company that primarily invests in other assets on behalf of its investors. Soul Patts has large stakes in many other ASX 200 shares to start off with. It has owned significant portions of Brickworks Ltd (ASX: BKW), New Hope Corporation Limited (ASX: NHC) and TPG Telecom Ltd (ASX: TPG) for years.

The company has also built up a few other portfolios more recently as well though. Soul Patts cultivated a massive and broad portfolio of blue-chip ASX 200 shares when it acquired Milton Corporation in 2021. It has also expanded into unlisted assets and private credit and equity in recent years, buying assets like farms, swim centres and retirement villages.

But what makes this company the ASX 200’s greatest dividend share? Well, it’s rather simple. Soul Patts is the only company on the ASX that has delivered an annual dividend pay rise every single year since 2000.

Yes, Soul Patts has given its investors a pay rise for 22 years and counting. That includes the global financial crisis of 2007-09, as well as the COVID-ravaged years of 2020 and 2021. No other ASX share can boast of such an impressive track record.

The greatest ASX 200 dividend share

If you invested $10,000 into Soul Patts shares at the start of the year 2000, you would have received 2,564 shares of Soul Patts at the share price of $3.90 that the company was going for back then.

Over 2000, Soul Patts forked out 10.5 cents per share in ordinary dividends, as well as 3.5 cents per share in special dividends, for a total of 14 cents per share. That would have gotten our investor a starting yield of 3.59% back then.

By 2022, Soul Patts’ annual dividends had risen to 72 cents per share of ordinary dividends, as well as 15 cents per share in special dividends, for a total of 87 cents in fully-franked dividends per share. For our investor that forked out $10,000 for 2,564 shares in 2000, last year’s payments would have totalled just over $2,230, or a whopping 22.32% yield on their original investment.

Additionally, those 2,564 shares would be worth $86,253 at the current Soul Patts share price of $33.65 that we see today.

According to the company itself, Soul Patts shareholders have enjoyed an average annual return (including dividend returns) of 12.3% per annum over the 20 years to 31 January 2023. That crushes both the broader ASX 200 index, as well as most other ASX 200 shares:

So it’s for these reasons that Wasongton H. Soul Pattinson can and should be regarded as the greatest ASX 200 dividend share on the market today. Sure, it doesn’t have the highest starting dividend yield right now at 2.35%. But this is a clear case of ‘slow and steady wins the race’ when it comes to dividend investing.

The post Is this the ASX 200’s greatest dividend share? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has positions in Telstra Group and Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Company Limited. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Brickworks and Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Company Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Brickworks, Telstra Group, and Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Company Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Tpg Telecom. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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