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Some investors may be looking for regular income. A salary can certainly provide that consistent level of income. But can ASX shares also provide monthly income?

I can understand why people want monthly income – a lot of household expenditure is monthly like the mortgage or rental payment. Various other bills come regularly, food is a very regular purchase. Regular investment cash flow could help with that.

There are very few ASX investments that pay monthly, and I don’t like all of them. Furthermore, the investment needs to make sense, the dividend income shouldn’t be the only important factor to consider.

But, if we create a $10,000 portfolio of ASX shares that pay quarterly, then there is a way to create that monthly income.

Regular dividend payers

One option is Rural Funds Group (ASX: RFF), a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns farmland including almonds, macadamias, cattle and vineyards.

Rural Funds pays a distribution every three months in January, April, July and October.

Charter Hall Long Wale REIT (ASX: CLW) is another REIT. It owns a variety of different properties including distribution centres and logistics, food manufacturing, pubs and bottle shops, service stations, telecommunication exchanges, Bunnings properties and so on.

Charter Hall Long Wale REIT pays a distribution every three months in February, May, August and November.

GQG Partners Inc (ASX: GQG) is a fund manager that’s rapidly growing its funds under management (FUM), leading to profit and dividend growth.

GQG pays a dividend in March, June, September and December.

Should monthly income matter?

Receiving dividends every month is an appealing outcome, but there are more ASX dividend shares out there than just the few I have mentioned today. A lot of dividend payers don’t pay every quarter, but I still think they’re worth owning.

I’d rather own a portfolio of names that pay every six months (or even once a year), ensuring I’ve made the best investments, rather than trying to purposefully choose ones just based on the months they pay. Even so, regular readers will know that I like all three of these ASX dividend shares.

Foolish takeaway

By spreading $10,000 across the three names I mentioned, we can create a decent cash flow every month. I like their potential and they could all grow profit in the years ahead.

The post Got $10,000 to invest? How to turn it into monthly income appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Why Cettire, GQG, Mesoblast, and Nine Entertainment shares are falling today
• Want passive income? This high-yielding ASX dividend stock pays cash every quarter
• Up 7%: This All Ords stock reported some big ASX news today
• Cash kings: 2 top ASX dividend shares that pay quarterly
• With a P/E ratio of 15, is this ASX All Ords share price too low to ignore?

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has positions in Rural Funds Group. 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 positions in and has recommended Rural Funds Group. 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 Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS) share price is close to a 52-week low, making it a prime candidate to invest in because of the underlying strength of the company, in my opinion.

Telstra is the leading telecommunications business in Australia, with the most subscribers and the biggest network coverage.

While it’s possible the Telstra share price could fall even further, I think investors should focus on the following things.

Growing subscribers

The business continues to grow its number of mobile subscribers, which is really helping revenue for that segment of the business. I believe the mobile segment is the company’s key division.

Its mobile division saw a 6% growth of mobile service revenue in the FY24 first-half result.

Mobile services in operation (SIO) grew by 4.6% year over year, with growth across wholesale, prepaid, and postpaid. I think this is a sign of how much the public values Telstra’s network and places it above the competition. More users mean the business has more revenue to invest in its network to maintain (and grow) its market position.

The strong market position is allowing the business to implement price increases (which is linked to inflation). The business saw 3.4% average revenue per user (ARPU) growth, excluding prepaid one-off from a product migration.

Ongoing subscriber growth is key for the business, both for revenue and for its operating leverage.

Operating leverage

When a business is able to grow profit faster than revenue, it’s a great sign for shareholder returns. Ultimately, it’s the profit that pays for dividends and profit growth is usually the driver of pushing the Telstra share price, or any share price, higher over time.

Once the infrastructure has been built, additional subscribers mean the fixed cost is spread among more users.

In the HY24 result, total income rose 1.2%, underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew 3.1%, net profit after tax (NPAT) rose 11.5% and earnings per share (EPS) increased 12%.

The important mobile division saw total income growth of 4% and EBITDA growth of 13%.

Telstra is demonstrating what I want to see from rising profit margins. The company reported that underlying costs only grew by 0.4% in the result, which is an impressive result considering all of the inflation in Australia.

Between FY21 and FY25, it’s aiming to grow its underlying EPS at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in the ‘high teens’.

Dividend yield

The lower Telstra share price means the company is now offering a larger dividend yield.

In the first half of FY24, the interim dividend increased by 5.9% to 9 cents per share.

Commsec numbers suggest the business could pay an annual dividend per share of 18 cents in FY24, 19 cents per share in FY25 and 20 cents per share in FY26. That means the projected grossed-up dividend yield for the current year is 6.75%, and then 7.1% in FY25 and 7.5% in FY26.

The post 3 key numbers for the Telstra share price that I think are being overlooked appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• The Telstra share price is near a 52-week low: Should you buy?
• 2 classic ASX 200 shares you can buy for cheap now to hold for years
• Got $5,000? Buy and hold these ASX value stocks for years
• Seeking retirement income from ASX bank shares at 52-week highs? What I’d buy instead
• Buy Telstra and these ASX dividend shares next week

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 positions in and has recommended Telstra Group. 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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Australia is blessed with a range of quality dividend stocks.

The reason for that is the nation’s tax rules, which favour dividends as the method of returning capital to shareholders over other channels, such as buybacks.

Many dividends in Australia come with franking credits, which allow the recipient to avoid paying income tax on that cash because corporate tax has already been levied on it.

The avoidance of double taxation, while not unique to Australia, is a privilege not seen in many comparable countries.

Anyway, back to the stocks themselves.

If you’re interested in generating a reliable income, the myriad of choices makes it difficult to figure out which stocks to buy.

To assist with that search, I’ve picked out four ASX income stocks that I think are looking pretty good right now:

The king among banks and a king of the kings

It would be remiss to not mention ASX bank shares in a conversation about reliable income generators.

Australian banks, regardless of what you think of them as a consumer, pay out decent and consistent dividends throughout the economic cycle.

At the moment, the best dividend yield among the major banks can be found with ANZ Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: ANZ), which pays out 6% that’s roughly half-franked.

Check out this consistency:

Dividend date	Amount
Dec 2023	94 cents
Jul 2023	81c
Dec 2022	74c
Jul 2022	72c
Dec 2021	72c
Jul 2021	70c

For a stock that pays out a bit more, one can’t go past Yancoal Australia Ltd (ASX: YAL).

While resources companies can be notoriously volatile because of global commodity prices, this coal miner managed to hand out a sensational fully franked 11.3% yield even after a lean 2023.

That’s almost double the income generated by ANZ.

What’s more, the experts are loving the outlook for Yancoal right now. Broking platform CMC Invest shows that all four analysts that cover the stock reckon it’s a buy.

The income stocks making money from global demand

Metrics Income Opportunities Trust (ASX: MOT) puts money into private credit “and other” investment opportunities.

And this stock has an absolutely remarkable dividend habit.

Firstly, it pays out monthly, rather than just twice a year.

Secondly, adding up the past 12 dividends gives it an impressive yield of 9.2%. If you go back the last three years of monthly payouts, the yield is around 8%.

Its critics do point out the nature of the underlying investments is a bit too mysterious for their liking, but Metrics’ track record of generating consistent and regular income is indisputable.

Conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East in recent years have emphasised how traditional energy sources are still needed to keep the lights on while the world builds up its renewable generators.

Woodside Energy Group Ltd (ASX: WDS) is, therefore, in prime position to take advantage of this demand.

Similar to Yancoal, low commodity prices in 2023 meant Woodside didn’t necessarily have its best year.

But the Australian company kept paying out dividends as best as it could, to still maintain a yield of 7.1%.

The post ASX dividend royalty: Australia’s top stocks for reliable income appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Here’s how the ASX 200 market sectors stacked up this week
• 3 ASX dividend shares with yields above 5% (but are they safe?)
• 2 of the best ASX dividend stocks to buy in March
• Why Camplify, Platinum, Rio Tinto, and Woodside shares are dropping today
• Why are the big 4 ASX 200 bank shares leaping to new 52-week highs today

Motley Fool contributor Tony Yoo 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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Financial shares led the ASX 200 market sectors this week, with a 3.32% gain over the past five trading days.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) also lifted this week, up 1.07% over five days to finish at 7,847 points on Friday. The benchmark hit a new all-time high of 7,853.1 points during earlier intraday trading.

Eight of the 11 market sectors finished the week in the green.

Let’s recap what happened.

Financial shares led the ASX sectors this week

The major ASX 200 bank shares had an incredible week with all of them hitting new 52-week highs today.

Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) shares rose 4.69% over the five days and finished at a new record high of $27.70 on Friday.

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX: ANZ) shares rose 3.65% and hit a new record high of $29.90 during intraday trading today.

National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) shares rose 2.78% over the week and hit a new high of $35.12 on Friday.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) shares rose 3.04% and hit a new high of $121.54 today.

Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) shares rose 2.96% this week and hit a new record intraday high of $199.31 on Friday.

Fuelling this upswing was confidence that interest rate cuts are on the way both here and in the United States.

This is based on news of weak GDP growth of just 0.2% in Australia in the December quarter and 1.5% over the year amid population growth of 2.5%.

CBA head economist Gareth Aird predicts cuts of 0.75% in 2024, commencing in September, and 0.75% in the first half of 2025.

On top of that, US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said it would be “appropriate for interest rates to come down significantly over the coming years” if inflation continued to fall while the economy grew.

And in good news specifically for bank stocks, Powell also indicated that plans to make US banks hold more capital would probably be scaled back.

The two listed private health insurers also did well this week after the Federal Government approved an average industry premium increase of 3.03% — and even higher rises for them.

Medibank Private Ltd (ASX: MPL) shares rose 4.77% this week to close at $3.84 on Friday, following news that its premiums will rise by 3.3%.

NIB Holdings Limited (ASX: NHF) shares lifted 6.96% to close at $7.99 on Friday. NIB premiums will rise by 4.1%.

ASX 200 market sector snapshot

Here’s how the 11 market sectors stacked up this week, according to CommSec data.

Over the past five days:

S&P/ASX 200 market sector	Change this week
Financials (ASX: XFJ)	3.32%
A-REIT (ASX: XPJ)	2.55%
Healthcare (ASX: XHJ)	1.47%
Information Technology (ASX: XIJ)	1.44%
Industrials (ASX: XNJ)	1.23%
Utilities (ASX: XUJ)	0.66%
Consumer Discretionary (ASX: XDJ)	0.58%
Communication (ASX: XTJ)	0.5%
Consumer Staples (ASX: XSJ)	(0.29%)
Materials (ASX: XMJ)	(0.65%)
Energy (ASX: XEJ)	(0.68%)

The post Here’s how the ASX 200 market sectors stacked up this week appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today
• Why is this ASX 200 share rising at nearly quadruple the rate of its peers?
• Is this surging ASX 200 stock an under-the-radar buy?
• 3 ASX dividend shares with yields above 5% (but are they safe?)
• ASX 200 soars to another new all-time high on Friday!

Motley Fool contributor Bronwyn Allen has positions in Anz Group, Commonwealth Bank Of Australia, and Macquarie Group. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Macquarie Group. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Macquarie Group and 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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The post Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Why is this ASX 200 share rising at nearly quadruple the rate of its peers?
• Is this surging ASX 200 stock an under-the-radar buy?
• Why Judo, Paladin Energy, Virgin Money, and WA1 shares are racing higher
• Virgin Money share price pops 34% on takeover bid
• ASX 200 soars to another new all-time high on Friday!

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 Life360, PolyNovo, Pro Medicus, and Telix Pharmaceuticals. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Pro Medicus and Telix Pharmaceuticals. 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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Every so often, the market gets it very wrong with the valuation of companies.

This means that investors can generate big returns if they identify undervalued shares before they re-rate.

With that in mind, it is worth pointing out that Bell Potter thinks that it has found a dirt cheap ASX 200 mining share.

In fact, it believes that this miner could generate mouth-watering gains and big dividend yields.

Which ASX 200 mining share?

According to a note this week, the broker has reiterated its buy rating and $1.53 price target on Nickel Industries Ltd (ASX: NIC) shares.

Based on its current share price of 83 cents, this implies 84% upside for investors over the next 12 months.

In addition, the broker expecting a 5 cents per share dividend from the nickel miner in FY 2024 and FY 2025, which equates to a 6% dividend yield at today’s price.

What did it say?

Bell Potter was impressed with the ASX 200 mining share’s recent results release, noting that its net profit was higher than expected. It commented:

The result reflected record production and good cost control in an environment of materially lower nickel prices and higher input costs. Nickel tonnes sold increased by 90% but sales revenue was up just 54%. EBITDA increased by 21% and EBITDA margins dropped from 29% to 21% in a tough nickel market.

In light of its positive performance, the broker continues to believe that the miner trades with an “undemanding valuation” today. It concludes:

NIC is trading on undemanding valuation multiples, offers a supportive (unfranked) dividend, has demonstrated its ability to make money through the nickel price cycle and is one of the world’s only listed nickel producer that offers diversified exposure across nickel products and markets. We retain our Buy recommendation.

The post Buy this ASX 200 share for an 80% gain and 6% dividend yield appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today
• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today
• One ASX mining sector at risk of more pain, and one ready to soar!
• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today
• Why ASX nickel shares are ending the week with a spring in their step

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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ASX 200 property share Goodman Group (ASX: GMG) is trading 0.58% lower on Friday at $30.79.

The industrial property specialist has been on a tear over the past year, up 56%, in fact.

This compares to its peers in the S&P/ASX 200 A-REIT Index (ASX: XPJ), which are trading 16% higher over the same period.

So, why is the Goodman share price growing at nearly quadruple the rate of other ASX 200 real estate stocks?

Go, you good thing!

Goodman Group is the biggest real estate investment trust (REIT) on the ASX 200 with a $58.8 billion market capitalisation.

Last year, it was one of the top five most profitable large-cap ASX 200 shares.

The ASX REIT released its 1H FY24 results last month. Goodman Group reported a 29% year-over-year increase in operating profit to $1.13 billion. This was higher than it had expected and resulted in a FY24 guidance upgrade.

The ASX 200 share rose 7% on the news. So, investors are feeling pretty happy right now.

Why is Goodman outperforming its peers by so much?

Well, one factor is likely its key point of difference in owning and managing many industrial property assets.

Industrial is hot property

Large warehouses and the like are in high demand today due to the expanding digital economy.

And the growth in artificial intelligence is adding fuel to the fire.

Online retailers and cloud computing companies are among the major commercial customers competing fiercely for large industrial properties like the ones Goodman owns.

Industrial property is in short supply nationally, which gives Goodman two major opportunities.

It can maximise its rental returns, with like-for-like net property income (NPI) growth coming in at 5% and portfolio occupancy remaining high at 98.4%.

It also has the money to buy more existing warehouses or the land to build them on.

Goodman has 85 projects in the development pipeline worth a collective $12.9 billion. Data centres make up 37% of the pipeline. The forecast yield on cost is 6.7%.

CEO Greg Goodman reckons cap rates for prime assets are currently attractive, making the group “focused on the buying opportunity”.

Goodman’s total assets under management are now worth $79 billion, down 2% from 30 June 2023.

What’s ahead for Goodman Group?

Commenting on the outlook, CEO Greg Goodman said:

Our focus on providing the essential infrastructure for the digital economy is supporting the positive
outlook for FY24. Data centres will be a key area of growth and the acceleration of data centre activity is a catalyst for the Group to consider multiple opportunities to enhance its returns.

Given positive structural trends, we expect continued customer and investor demand for our high quality industrial and digital infrastructure assets. Supply constraints in our locations are expected to continue to drive rental growth and maintain high occupancy rates across the portfolio.

ASX 200 share price snapshot

This ASX 200 property share has gained 131% in market capitalisation over the past five years.

This compares to 7.3% for the S&P/ASX 200 A-REIT Index.

The post Why is this ASX 200 share rising at nearly quadruple the rate of its peers? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Is this surging ASX 200 stock an under-the-radar buy?
• ASX 200 soars to another new all-time high on Friday!
• 13 ASX 200 shares with ex-dividend dates next week
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Friday
• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today

Motley Fool contributor Bronwyn Allen has positions in Goodman Group. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Goodman Group. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Goodman Group. 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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Another ASX reporting season has come to an end. For some companies, February marked a celebratory event; for others, it was a sobering experience — making it a season of ASX winners and losers.

The general consensus among analysts is that results were, on average, better-than-expected. After all, many had speculated in the lead-up to February that this would be the set of figures that finally reflected cost inflation and a softening economy.

Still, not all roads led to Rome. Let’s look at some Aussie companies that rose to the occasion and some that faltered.

Who are the winners of this ASX reporting season?

Arguably the standout sector of the month was ASX retail shares. Fears of corporate earnings feeling the sting of a spending-conscious consumer had set expectations. Investors were anticipating steep falls in revenue and profits as discretionary spending came under scrutiny of more households.

While some shoppers did dial back somewhat amid greater wallet strain, the reduction was not as dire as investors had prepared themselves for.

For example, Harvey Norman Holdings Limited (ASX: HVN) and Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN) reported sales declines of 6.8% and 5.6%, respectively. However, the share prices of these two companies rallied 4.4% and 23.7% on their results.

In the case of Kogan, investors were thrilled with the company achieving a net profit after tax (NPAT) of $10.2 million after netting a $9.6 million loss in the previous first half — fitting for an ASX winner. Meanwhile, investors were willing to forgive Harvey Norman for its 29.4% fall in pre-tax profits.

Another February earnings season ASX winner was chip design software seller Altium Ltd (ASX: ALU), although you wouldn’t think so based on the price move on results day.

Altium shares retreated 0.1% to $65.05 after handing its first-half figures to the market on 27 February. However, this company’s ‘winning’ part of reporting season arrived as a takeover offer before its results were posted.

Nevertheless, Altium’s results were still impressive. Revenue jumped 15.9%, and net profits grew 11.4% for the six months ended 31 December 2023.

The lemons

Earnings among the top 200 ASX companies fell 35% in aggregate, meaning there were some real doozies during the month.

One of the most notable Australian companies taking a deep cut to its earnings was mining behemoth BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP). Despite its underlying earnings holding steady at US$6.6 billion thanks to iron ore and copper prices, nickel became BHP’s problem child in the half.

The mining giant incurred a US$2.5 billion impairment on its Western Australia Nickel asset. On top of that, another US$3.2 billion charge was booked related to the dam failure at Brazil Samarco several years ago.

Shifting gears, another company that possibly would have been on the ASX winners list if not for its weaker guidance was Corporate Travel Management Ltd (ASX: CTD). Despite posting revenue and NPAT gains of 25% and 222%, the travel operator sustained a 20% hit to its share price.

The post 3 ASX winners from the reporting season (and 2 losers) appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• This ASX 300 company director just cashed out $16 million worth of shares
• ASX dividend investors: Is BHP stock a buy now?
• Why is the BHP share price sinking today?
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Thursday
• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today

Motley Fool contributor Mitchell Lawler 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 Altium, Corporate Travel Management, and Kogan.com. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Harvey Norman. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Corporate Travel Management and Kogan.com. 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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ResMed Inc (ASX: RMD) shares are pushing higher again on Friday.

In afternoon trade, the sleep disorder treatment company’s shares are up 0.5% to $28.97.

This means that its shares now up 37% since hitting a 52-week low of $21.14 back in late September.

To put that in context, if you had invested $20,000 in ResMed shares at its low, your investment would now be worth $27,408.

That’s a return on investment of almost $7,500 in less than six months.

Investors may now be wondering if it is too late to buy the company’s shares. So, let’s find out.

Is it too late to buy ResMed shares?

The good news is that you’re not too late to the ResMed party according to a number of analysts.

For example, Citi has a buy rating and $34.00 price target on the company’s shares. This implies potential upside of 17% for investors from current levels.

Citi believes that the company is well-positioned to benefit from the delayed return from its main rival in the key sleep treatment market.

Don’t worry about Ozempic

Over at Ord Minnett, its analysts are even more bullish with their accumulate rating and $34.00 price target. This suggests that the ResMed’s shares could rise almost 35% over the next 12 months.

Its analysts aren’t concerned above the emergence of weight loss wonder drugs like Ozempic and see minimal impact on sleep treatment demand from them over the medium term.

A best idea

Finally, Morgans has an add rating and $32.82 price target, which would mean a return of 13% for investors.

Its analysts are so positive they have the company on their best ideas list again in March. The broker commented:

While weight loss drugs have grabbed headlines and investor attention, we see these products having little impact on the large, underserved sleep disorder breathing market, and do not view them as category killers. Although quarters are likely to remain volatile, nothing changes our view that the company remains well placed and uniquely positioned as it builds a patient-centric, connected-care digital platform that addresses the main pinch points across the healthcare value chain.

The post Up 37% from their low: Can ResMed shares keep rising? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• 3 reliable ASX shares you can buy at a discount
• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today
• Morgans names more of the best ASX 200 shares to buy in March
• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy today
• 2 ASX 200 dividend shares that could be strong buys this month

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When a director of any ASX 300 company decides to cash out shares, the usual reaction from shareholders is one of raised eyebrows.

After all, ASX directors aren’t exactly amongst the lowest-paid workers in the country. And investors of an ASX 300 share like to see the fortunes of the people who are highly paid to run their companies as closely aligned as possible to their own.

But that’s what investors in ASX 300 online retailer Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN) are confronting today.

The Kogan share price has been on a tear over the past few weeks, thanks to a very well-received earnings report last month. Since that report was dropped on 26 February, this ASX 300 stock has rocketed a whopping 35% or so. That’s including the 1% rise today thus far.

This rise put the Kogan share price up an eye-watering 89% over the past 12 months.

But a Kogan director seems to have taken advantage of this share price surge.

According to an ASX filing this morning, David Shafer made an off-market bulk sale of shares yesterday. Shafer is Kogan’s chief financial officer, chief operating officer and executive director.

Shafer reportedly disposed of 2 million Kogan shares for a price of $8 each. For the mathematically challenged readers out there, that equates to a $16 million sale.

Prior to this sale, Sahfer owned approximately 5.23 million shares. As well as 1.4 million options.

Before any ASX 300 investors jump the gun, Kogan did release an explanation of this sale in conjunction with its notice. Here’s what it said:

The Company notes that with no share sales for more than two and a half years, David has decided to diversify some of his investments.

He remains committed to the Company and has retained the majority of his shareholding. He also has equity-based compensation, including options to align his interests over the long term.

Should shareholders of this ASX 300 stock worry about this sale?

It is universally regarded as a good thing to have directors of an ASX 300 share (or any share for that matter) to be as financially aligned as possible with shareholders.

However, it is good financial practice for anyone to diversify their wealth, including ASX 300 directors. Having a majority of one’s wealth tied up in one stock is something that no one would recommend as sound financial management.

So at the end of the day, it’s up to each shareholder to make an individual decision of how they feel about this sale.

The post This ASX 300 company director just cashed out $16 million worth of shares appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Is it too late to buy after the Kogan share price rocketed 90% in a year?
• Why Alumina, Kogan, Mayne Pharma, and Suncorp shares are racing higher
• Kogan share price jumps 14% on massive profit rebound and dividend return
• Here’s why this ASX small-cap share could be a big winner

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has positions in Kogan.com. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Kogan.com. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Kogan.com. 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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