The Iluka Resources Limited (ASX: ILU) share price is rising slightly higher today after the company conducted its 2021 AGM, releasing its 2021 AGM chairman’s and managing director’s addresses to the market afterwards.

Iluka shares have responded modestly, up 1.97% to $7.76 per share at the time of writing.

Iluka is an international mining company with a focus on exploration, project development, mining operations, processing, and marketing. It works primarily with mineral sands, which are ore deposits that contain heavy minerals like titanium and tungsten. Let’s see what its AGM revealed.

Highlights from the Iluka AGM

Iluka chair Greg Martin highlighted the company’s international sustainability and safety programs.

Iluka had a 20% reduction in serious potential safety incidents in the past 12 months, rehabilitated 584 hectares of disturbed land in Sierra Leone, and increased indigenous employment at its Jacinth-Ambrosia operation to almost 30% of its workforce.

Iluka told the AGM it contended with a significant drop in demand for the mineral zircon during the COVID-19 pandemic, but protected its profit margins by cutting supply.

The company also re-entered the rare earths market through its “strategic stockpile” at Eneabba. Rare earth minerals are hot property in international trade, given their use in renewable energy technology.

The company also de-merged one of the mining royalty arms of the business, creating “Australia’s largest listed royalty company”, Deterra Royalties, in which Iluka has retained a 20% stake.

Comments from the chair

Given the impact of the international economic recession on Iluka’s business, Martin took the chance to signpost the company’s future strengths.

Iluka’s disciplined performance in the face of external uncertainty reflects a resilience we have talked about for some time but which, on any objective measure, was on display and well demonstrated last year in dealing with a good number of curve balls.

This is a vital organisational capability as we look to meet the continuing challenges to the many parts of the global economy where COVID-19 remains a very large and present threat to lives and livelihoods.

The objective we’ve set ourselves at Iluka is to deliver sustainable value and, while we pursue that objective diligently and talk about it at every opportunity, it’s often observed that actions speak louder than words.

Iluka share price snapshot

Despite the company’s talk of COVID-19 challenges, the Iluka share price has been on a tear the past 12 months and more than doubled in value since May last year. It’s up 113% in that timeframe.

More reading

• Leading brokers name 3 ASX shares to sell today
• Top broker tips Iluka (ASX:ILU) share price to keep on rising
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Tuesday
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Thursday
• These were the best performing ASX 200 shares last week

Motley Fool contributor Lucas Radbourne-Pugh 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 Bruce Jackson.

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The Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) share price is not having a great day today. Woolworths shares are, at the time of writing, down a hefty 3.67% to $39.89. That contrasts even more poorly with the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO), which is currently up 0.23% today.

Why such a disparate performance for Woolies shares today? Well, it appears to be a reaction to the third quarter update the grocery giant released to the markets this morning. As we dissected earlier today, this update outlined how Woolworths managed to increase sales by 0.4% over the quarter ending March 31 2021. The company also reported that its plans to emerge its Endeavour group division (which houses Woolworths’ bottle shops and pubs business) is on track to proceed by June. Additionally, it announced that its plan to open a new Dan Murphy’s bottle shop at Darwin Airport will be scuppered.

Investors are evidently not too impressed with one or more of these pieces of news today.

But perhaps that begs a deeper question: are Woolworths shares too expensive? They certainly don’t look cheap if we use conventional metrics.

Woolies and its peers

The Woolworths share price currently has a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 35.65, and a trailing dividend yield of 2.53%. Compare that to Woolworths’ rivals in Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL) and Metcash Limited (ASX: MTS). At current pricing, Coles has a P/E ratio of just 20.71 – and a dividend yield of 3.72% as well. Metcash is sitting on a P/E ratio of 16.16, and a trailing dividend yield of 3.97%.

That looks (and is) far cheaper than Woolworths on a pure earnings basis. Perhaps that is affecting how Woolworths’ shares are responding today. Shares that are priced at relatively high earnings multiples usually are so because the market has placed high expectations on their performance. As a comparison, iShares has the average P/E ratio for ASX 200 companies at the current time sitting at 23.75.

Are Woolworths shares overvalued today?

Well, one broker who doesn’t think so is investment bank Goldman Sachs. According to CommSec, Goldman has retained its ‘buy’ rating for Woolworths shares, and a 12-month price target of $43.60, following the quarterly update. This implies an upside of around 9% on the current pricing. Goldman has based this target on Woolworths’ fundamentals and cash flow estimates.

More reading

• Woolworths (ASX:WOW) fails the pub test with Darwin Dan Murphy’s
• Why Airtasker, Ecofibre, Nuix, & Woolworths shares are sinking
• QBE Insurance (ASX:QBE) set to face AGM shareholder revolt
• What are brokers saying about the Coles (ASX:COL) share price?
• Brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy now

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of COLESGROUP DEF SET and Woolworths Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) price is up 21% over the past 24 hours, currently trading for 33.3 US cents (42.7 Aussie cents).

The Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) price is heading the other way over the past full day, down 1.1% to US$54,227 (AU$69,522).

At the current price, Dogecoin — a digital token represented by a smiling Shiba Inu — claims the 7th largest market cap of any cryptocurrency, at US$41.4 billion. That’s up from 8th place just a few weeks ago when Dogecoin was trading for 23.8 US cents. Even then, on 16 April, Dogecoin had already clocked a mind-boggling 4,996% gain in 2021.

At today’s price, the year-to-date gains for Dogecoin are even more jaw-dropping, with the meme coin up 6,990% since 1 January, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Lacking a time machine, the question crypto investors are asking now is if those kinds of gains mean Dogecoin is in for a major correction. Or if more outsized gains could still be ahead.

Dogecoin price rocketing…who’s laughing now?

Coming to life as an offspring of Litecoin in 2013, the dog meme themed crypto’s creators intended for it to be a light-hearted version of the more serious cryptos, like Bitcoin.

Billionaire Mark Cuban, who owns the Dallas Mavericks NBA team, still embraces that lighter side of Dogecoin.

In a groundbreaking move, the Mavericks franchise decided to accept Dogecoin as well as Bitcoin and Ethereum in lieu of cash. Though they’re happy to take your cash as well.

Speaking on The Ellen DeGeneres Show Cuban said (quoted by Bloomberg), “Bitcoin is like a digital version of gold, Ethereum is a digital version of a currency and then you got Dogecoin, which is just fun.”

Asked whether Dogecoin is a good investment, Cuban replied:

Overall, when someone brings up Dogecoin to you and asks you if it’s a good investment, I would say it’s not the world’s best investment but it’s a whole lot better than a lottery ticket, and it’s a great way to learn and start understanding cryptocurrencies. And you know what? It could go up. And the second part about it is if it doesn’t go up and you want to spend it, you can buy merchandise on the Mavericks store.

There you have it from one of Dogecoin’s more ardent and high-profile public supporters. It “could go up” even after this year’s epic run. And if not, well, you can load up with NBA jerseys and coffee mugs well ahead of the Christmas season.

A word of caution

Certainly not everyone is a fan of Dogecoin.

Like Jeffrey Halley, a senior market analyst at Oanda Asia Pacific which specialises in trading fiat currencies.

According to Halley (quoted by Bloomberg):

Dogecoin has no apparent commercial or investment use other than as a conduit for speculative mania and the attempt to make a buck. I suspect much of its appeal lies in the fact that it is very, very cheap to buy and sell, as opposed to $60,000 for Bitcoin, making it much more approachable to a retail trader who fancies a flutter.

Of course, you don’t have to buy or sell an entire Bitcoin at once. The world’s largest cryptocurrency is split into tiny fractions, called satoshi, after the mysterious founder (or founders) of Bitcoin. A single Bitcoin is comprised of 100 million satoshi.

But Halley certainly has a point regarding investor psychology. Buying into a digital asset worth US$54,000 presents a higher psychological bar than buying into one worth a mere 33 cents.

Will that continue to support the Dogecoin price? I’ll get back to you on that one in a few weeks’ time.

More reading

• Tesla’s Bitcoin sale helped boost quarterly profits
• Should you invest your super in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin?
• Is Dogecoin still a joke?
• Is Square the long-term stock for you?
• Aussie fintech lets ANYONE receive salary in Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC)

Bernd Struben has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and recommends Bitcoin. 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 Bruce Jackson.

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The Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) share price is firmly in the red following the release of two statements to the ASX today.

They include the company’s quarterly sales update which we talked about at the Motley Fool this morning, and an announcement on its proposed Dan Murphy’s outlet near Darwin’s airport.

At the time of writing, the Woolworths share price is down 3.62%, trading at $39.91 per share. Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is 0.24% higher.

Let’s delve into the update on Dan Murphy’s.

Thumbs down from independent review

Following plenty of pushback from various organisations, Woolworths launched an independent panel review into its proposed Dan Murphy’s in Darwin. This review was led by the co-founder of law firm Gilbert + Tobin, Danny Gilbert.

Gilbert’s review focused on several key areas. These included assessing the adequacy of stakeholder engagement with respect to public health concerns; the extent to which stakeholder concerns are factored into decision-making; and best practices for the supply of alcohol in the best interests of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

BREAKING: Woolworths Group just announced they are NOT proceeding with Darwin Dan Murphys development!
Congratulations to Aunty Helen, Olivia Williams (BlakBusiness), @FAREAustralia, and the NT orgs who fought so hard to protect the Bagot community. #KeepGrogOut pic.twitter.com/t3KUsKsfX2

— Nic Holas (@nicheholas) April 28, 2021

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Today, Woolworths has announced that it will not proceed with the Dan Murphy’s development in Darwin. The abandonment of the project follows Gilbert’s panel advising not to go ahead based on their findings. In addition to its sales update, the announcement has been met with a decline in the Woolworths share price.

In the release, Woolworths’ divulged some of Gilbert’s findings, as follows:

The Gilbert Review has made it clear that we did not do enough in this community to live up to the best practice engagement to which we hold ourselves accountable.

In particular, we did not do enough stakeholder engagement with a range of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and organisations.

Woolworths intends to release the Gilbert review in full no later than mid-June.

Woolworths share price socially distancing

It is probably no coincidence that Woolworths is looking to spin off the Endeavour Drinks division by the end of June. This would allow Woolworths to hold a stake in the business but distance itself from the social blowback surrounding alcohol businesses.

CEO Brad Banducci stated that any decision to open a Dan Murphy’s store in the future would be in the hands of Endeavour Drinks management. Demonstrating the already developing efforts in separating the businesses.

The strategic move may alleviate social pressures on the Woolworths share price in the future. Meanwhile, Woolworths would still stand to gain from a mega-store opening if it held a position in the spin-off.

More reading

• Why Airtasker, Ecofibre, Nuix, & Woolworths shares are sinking
• ASX 200 up 0.3%: Woolworths and Fortescue lower on updates, Newcrest impresses
• Woolworths (ASX:WOW) share price lower on third quarter sales update
• 4 ASX shares to boom when inflation goes up: fundie
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Thursday

Motley Fool contributor Mitchell Lawler has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of Woolworths Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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In afternoon trade, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is on course to record a gain. At the time of writing, the benchmark index is up 0.2% to 7,080.5 points.

Four ASX shares that have failed to follow the market higher today are listed below. Here’s why they are sinking:

Airtasker Ltd (ASX: ART)

The Airtasker share price is down 3.5% to $1.33. This appears to have been driven by profit taking after a solid gain on Wednesday following the release of its third quarter update. That update revealed that the company has been performing stronger than expected since its IPO earlier this year. This led to Airtasker upgrading its guidance for FY 2021.

Ecofibre Ltd (ASX: EOF)

The Ecofibre share price has sunk 10.5% to 94.5 cents. This may be a delayed reaction to the hemp company’s quarterly update earlier this week. Ecofibre reported quarterly revenue of $6.8 million, which was down 10% on the second quarter and 52% on the prior corresponding period. Hemp-based face mask sales boosted its performance a year ago.

Nuix Ltd (ASX: NXL)

The Nuix share price is down almost 6% to $4.02. This is despite there being no news out of the investigative analytics and intelligence software provider. However, investors have been selling the company’s shares since the release of a trading update and guidance downgrade this month. Disappointingly, the Nuix share price hit a record low of $3.95 earlier in the day.

Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW)

The Woolworths share price is down almost 4% to $39.87. Investors have been selling the retail conglomerate’s shares following the release of its third quarter update. For the three months ended 31 March, Woolworths posted a 0.4% increase in group sales to $16,566 million. While this sales result was stronger than expected, the company’s outlook for the fourth quarter appears to have spooked investors.   

More reading

• ASX 200 up 0.3%: Woolworths and Fortescue lower on updates, Newcrest impresses
• Woolworths (ASX:WOW) share price lower on third quarter sales update
• 4 ASX shares to boom when inflation goes up: fundie
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Thursday
• ASX 200 rises, Kogan jumps, gold miners sold off

James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. recommends Nuix Pty Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of Woolworths Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Nuix Pty Ltd. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The QBE Insurance Group Ltd (ASX: QBE) share price is enjoying some time in the sunshine today. QBE shares are up a healthy 2.31% at the time of writing to $9.74 a share. That’s significantly outperforming the broader S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO), which is ‘only’ up 0.4% to 7,093 points today.

However, zooming out and the picture is far less rosy for QBE Insurance. This company has been a serial underperformer for years now. QBE is still more than 35% below its pre-COVID highs of ~$15 a share. Additionally, it’s also more than 70% below its all-time high. And that all-time high is from way back in September 2007.

Yes, anyone who has bought QBE shares before 2020 is probably in the red. In fact, it’s conceivable that the vast majority of QBE shareholders, or at least those with less than impeccable luck in market timing, have experienced nothing more than a few percentage points of growth at the very best.

QBE to face the music at AGM

Well, that’s not a recipe for a happy shareholder base. And we are seeing that play out this week. We had news yesterday that the Australian Shareholders’ Association (ASA) will be voting against the QBE remuneration report at its upcoming annual general meeting (AGM). The AGM will take place on Wednesday 5 May.

Here’s some of what ASA company monitor Ian Graves said to justify this move:

The main issues with the company are the financial performance, with an average total shareholder return over the past five years of -2%, and we have concerns the high turnover in senior management is linked to this lacklustre performance.

It’s not just the remuneration report either. The ASA has also lost concern in a number of member of QBE’s board and leadership team:

In addition to voting against the remuneration report, we will vote against the re-election of Mr Stephen Fitzgerald, Deputy Chair of the People and Remuneration Committee after dissatisfaction with the remuneration structure for a number of years. We will also be voting against the re-election of a number of long-serving directors, Sir Brian Pomeroy and Ms Jann Skinner, given that they have been on the QBE board since 2014 and the continuing poor results over a number of years and a range of issues the company is currently dealing with.

Not the first rodeo

This is not the first time QBE has been faced with such a revolt. The insurer faced similar moves in 2018 and 2019, with the company narrowly avoiding a ‘second strike’ in 2019’s AGM.  It also faced shareholder outrage last year when it dismissed its CEO Pat Regan. This was over “workplace communication” incidents that were not entirely made public.

Whatever happens at the AGM next month, we can be sure shareholders will be hoping for a better year ahead than the ones recently gone by.

More reading

• Goldman Sachs has good news for ASX 200 copper shares
• Why do ASX dividend shares underperform the market?
• ASX 200 up 0.3%: Woolworths and Fortescue lower on updates, Newcrest impresses
• Why ASX gold miner Regis Resources (ASX:RRL) share price is moving higher
• Why this top broker just upgraded the battered St Barbara (ASX:SBM) share price to “buy”

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen 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 Bruce Jackson.

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Eagle Mountain Mining Ltd (ASX: EM2) shares are surging higher today after the company released its March quarter activities report. At the time of writing, the Eagle Mountain share price has jumped 13.19% to $1.33. That’s an increase of around 34% in the past week.

Eagle Mountain is a mining company exploring for copper, gold, silver, and porphyry copper deposits across Australia and the United States. Let’s take a look at the company’s latest news. 

Quarter highlights

Eagle Mountain’s quarterly highlights revolve around its Oracle Ridge copper project, where the company has found “multiple high-grade mineralised samples” across a 4 km stretch.

According to Eagle Mountain, its gold and copper drilling assays have shown an area of high-grade mineralisation along the project’s southern Leatherwood contact. Mineralisation deposits recorded include 12.7 metres at 3.96% copper, 49.1g/t Ag and 1.4g/t Au from 363.1 metres.

The company’s quarterly assay highlighted a 34.4% copper deposit, 367g/t Ag and 26.2g/t Au over 0.4 metres. This represents the highest-grade assay ever recorded at the Oracle Ridge drilling target.

As a result, Eagle Mountain is planning to expand its drilling program in Oracle three-fold, with a new program beginning in May and new geologists hired to support increasing assays.

Management comments

Eagle Mountain CEO Tim Mason said the company’s results prove Oracle Ridge’s potential:

The results of the field mapping undertaken at OREX during the quarter is beginning to show the sheer scale of prospective areas at Oracle Ridge. This latest field program mapped the lower contact of the Leatherwood granitic intrusive over four kilometres with abundant copper skarn across the contact.

When you look at the size of our existing resources in comparison with the scale of outcropping mineralisation, the potential scale of Oracle Ridge becomes evident.

Eagle Mountain share price snapshot

The Eagle Mountain share price has risen more than 900% from 13 cents to its current value in less than 12 months. It has also gained over 180% in the past month alone. Eagle Mountain shares have beaten the iron-ore rich basic materials sector by 730% over the past year. 

More reading

• Why the Eagle Mountain (ASX:EM2) share price is surging 19% higher again today
• Eagle Mountain (ASX:EM2) share price rose 51% after high-grade discovery

Motley Fool contributor Lucas Radbourne-Pugh 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 Bruce Jackson.

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Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) is often called the ASX’s fifth bank. This is a slightly misleading label, since Macquarie’s business model is very different to the other ASX banks like Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) or Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC).

Sure, Macquarie does offer mortgages, credit cards, loans, savings accounts and term deposits like the other ASX banks. But they make up a small corner of Macquarie’s overall earnings pie. Far more significant is Macquarie’s investment banking business, as well as its hefty funds’ management arm.

But the ASX banks are also well-known for their dividend payments. Until the coronavirus pandemic, it was normal (even expected) that the banks would offer trailing, fully franked dividend yields of between 5-8%.

Of course, the pandemic threw a spanner in those works. All of the ASX banks were forced to deliver deep cuts to their dividends last year. Westpac didn’t even pay an interim dividend in 2020 for the first time in decades.

Macquarie did manage to pay 2 dividends in 2020 though, one in July and one in December. But they were indeed far lower than the dividends paid in 2019. The final dividend of $1.80 per share that was paid out in July was significantly below the previous final dividend of $3.60 per share that we saw in 2019. Exactly half, in fact. And the interim dividend that investors saw back in December came in at $1.35, which was also well below the $2.50 per share we saw in December 2019.

So what does the future hold for Macquarie dividends?

What does Macquarie’s dividend future look like?

Well, the company’s official dividend policy is the following:

“Macquarie Group Limited targets an annual ordinary dividend payout ratio in the range of 60 per cent to 80 per cent of net earnings”.

Well, Macquarie’s last financial report was its 1H21 interim report that we saw back in November. In this report, the company announced that its basic earnings per share for the six months to 30 September 2020 came in at $2.77. That was down significantly on the $4.30 that Macquarie reported for 1H19, hence the dividend cut.

So for Macquarie’s dividend to return to the levels it was at pre-pandemic, it would need to see a big boost to net earnings. This looks to be in motion but at a slow pace. Back in February, Macquarie released some updated guidance. This guidance stated that “Macquarie now expects the Group’s result for the year ended 31 March 2021 (FY21) to be up approximately 5% to 10% on FY20″. So investors might be looking at a ~5-10% boost for their Macquarie dividends in 2021. Nothing to write home about, but certainly better than nothing at all.

On the current Macquarie share price of $161.06, the company offers a trailing dividend yield of 1.96%.

More reading

• 2 compelling ASX shares rated as buys by brokers
• Could value finally be emerging for the embattled AMP (ASX:AMP) share price?
• What could APRA’s climate guidance mean for ASX bank shares?
• History is on the side of the battered AMP (ASX:AMP) share price as it plans its demerger
• These are the latest ASX shares to be downgraded by brokers today

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Macquarie Group Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The NRW Holdings Limited (ASX: NWH) share price is heading higher today.

At the time of writing, shares in the diversified resources company are up 3.32%, trading for $2.02. To compare, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is 0.4% higher.

Today’s price lift comes as the company announces new contracts today with mining companies Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) and Strandline Resources Ltd (ASX: STA).

Fortescue contract

In today’s announcement, NRW Holdings advised it has been awarded a $27.2 million contract for the design and construction of a primary crushing plant (PCP) at Fortescue’s Cloudbreak iron ore mine in Western Australia.

This is the third time NRW has done business with Fortescue, after delivering the Hopper 9 crushing plant the Cloudbreak mine, and the Solomon Hub conveyor and crushing plant, which will be delivered concurrently with this project.

With Fortescue Metals the seventh-largest company listed on the ASX by market capitalisation and iron ore prices rising to record levels, this could be good news for the NRW share price.

NRW CEO Jules Pemberton said:

I’m delighted that our Minerals Energy and Technology team of RCR Mining Technologies, DIAB and Primero are able to collaborate once again on another project for Fortescue and continue to innovate through smarter engineering solutions.

Strandline contract

In another ASX release, NRW says it has been awarded a $135 million contract with Strandline Resources for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of the Coburn Minerals Sands project.

As Motley Fool reported earlier, the project consists of two components – a wet concentrate plant (WCP) and a minerals separation plant (MSP). According to the statement, the two plants will be used to treat minerals before they undergo a separation process to produce “chloride ilmenite, rutile, zircon and zircon concentrate.”

NRW says the project should be completed by Q4 of calendar 2022.

NRW share price snapshot

Over the past 12 months, the NRW share price has increased 20.2%. However, just in the last 3 months, the company’s value has actually fallen 29.4%.

NRW Holdings has a market capitalisation of $892.2 million.

More reading

• ASX 200 up 0.3%: Woolworths and Fortescue lower on updates, Newcrest impresses
• Why the NRW (ASX:NWH) share price is climbing today
• Fortescue (ASX:FMG) share price lower on Q3 update
• 2 ASX dividend shares with big yields
• Is it dangerous investing in ASX resources shares at record highs?

Motley Fool contributor Marc Sidarous 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 Bruce Jackson.

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Brickworks Limited (ASX: BKW) could be one of the best ASX dividend shares for income investors to own.

There are a few factors why Brickworks is such a good ASX income share to think about:

Dividend reliability

Brickworks has a very strong record when it comes to the dividend. It hasn’t cut its dividend in around 45 years. That’s longer than plenty of Aussies have been alive.

Think of all of the global events and recessions that have happened in that time. Brickworks has been reliable in that whole period.

There hasn’t been dividend growth in every single year, but it’s reliable for people who need dividends to live.

In the recent FY21 half year result, Brickworks grew its dividend by 5% to 21 cents. Indeed, Brickworks says:

We are proud of our long history of dividend growth, and the stability this provides to our shareholders.

Diverse asset base

Most ASX companies pay their dividends from the operating profit each year.

Brickworks is different. Whilst it does make profit from its building products businesses, it’s the other assets that deliver the cashflow to pay the Brickworks dividends.

It owns a hefty chunk of investment conglomerate Washington H Soul Pattinson and Co Ltd (ASX: SOL) as well as half of a strong industrial property trust. Brickworks benefits from the diversification of the Soul Patts portfolio. Over the last two decades, Soul Patts had delivered annual shareholder returns of 13.6% over the last two decades.

At the release of its FY21 half-year result, it had four main asset segment values.

Its investment in Soul Patts was worth $2.9 billion. The 50% share of the industrial property trust had a net asset value of $777 million. The Australian building products division had net tangible assets (NTA) of $692 million. The North American building products division had net tangible assets of $208 million.

After including net debt of $479 million, the total inferred asset backing was $4.1 billion. That translated to an asset backing of more than $27 per share.

Brickworks noted that the building products asset value includes some parcels of surplus land, currently held at book value, but with a significantly higher market value.

More growth from the property trust

At Oakdale West, the property trust is constructing a state-of-the-art Amazon facility. It will have a total floor area of 190,000 square metres, across multiple levels, with a base floor area of 53,500 square metres. It’s also working on a large, high-tech facility for Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL).

Combined, the Coles and Amazon facilities will occupy 119,500 square metres Across multiple estates, there is a total of 171,300 square metres of lease pre-commitments already secured. The completion of these facilities will grow the gross rent by around 40%.

Dividend yield

At the current Brickworks share price it offers a grossed-up dividend yield of 4.2%.

Outlook

Brickworks says that it’s in a strong position. The Australian division has a significant pipeline of work, which is translating into increasing building products demand, with a strong second half of FY21 expected.

In the US, Brickworks has seen a strong recovery in demand during March with improved weather and increase optimism of a recovery after COVID-19.

Brickworks also said that the completion of the planned property trust facilities will result in a significant uplift of the asset value.

More reading

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• Why Brickworks, Imugene, Platinum, & Synlait shares are dropping today

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Brickworks and Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Company Limited. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of COLESGROUP DEF SET. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

The post Why dividend investors should love Brickworks (ASX:BKW) shares appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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