5 Best European Stocks With Quarterly Dividends

The 5 Best European Stocks With Quarterly Dividends

Investors from the U.S. are spoiled. There are thousands of stocks with quarterly dividends to choose from. But how about other parts of the world? Let’s take a look at how many stocks we can find that pay quarterly dividends.

According to Gurufocus’ excellent All-in-one-screener, there are

• 1,740 quarterly dividend-paying stocks in the U.S., and
• 435 Asian stocks are paying quarterly dividends, and,
• 68 European stocks are paying quarterly dividends.

Of those thousands of companies, I list my favorite dividend payers below.

My Top 5 Quarterly Dividend Paying Stocks, By Region

Europe’s Stock Dividend Culture

The way people and companies see dividends in Europe is different compared to the U.S. Most companies in Europe pay annual dividends (ie. Allianz, BASF, Siemens, etc.).  Sometimes they pay semi-annually dividends (ie. LVMH, Heineken, Novo Nordisk, etc.).

Very few pay quarterly dividends. Most are located in the UK, which technically is not part of the European Union. Without the likes of Unilever, BAT, and Shell, it would not be possible to come up with five stocks with quarterly dividends.

The 5 Best European Stock With Quarterly Dividends

#1 Unilever – The British/Dutch Dividend Juggernaut

Unilever is a favorite among income investors all over the world. Its products are household names such as Dove, Knorr, Wall’s, Domestos, and Bertolli are consumed by billions of people every single day. Its portfolio of brands consists of 400 brands generating revenue of +50 Bio USD.

Unilever’s 13 flagship brands each generate sales of 1 Bio USD. With its financial resources, worldwide reach, popular brands, and experience, I believe Unilever is one of the best European stocks with quarterly dividends.

Disclaimer: I own Unilever in my All-Weather Portfolio.

#2 Castellum – A Swedish Property Powerhouse

Castellum is my favorite real estate company in Scandinavia.

It operates acquires, develops, and operates properties primarily in Sweden and Denmark. It develops office, retail, residential, and industrial properties, while also providing third-party property management services.

It tries to focus on cash-generative projects, with excellent risk/reward and growth ratios.

In Q1 of 2023, it owns 750 properties with a total of 5,6 Mio sq. m., meaning an average Castellum property is 7,600 sq.m. (about 75,000 sft).

Personally, I believe Castellum is one of the few and best European stocks with quarterly dividends.

Castellum currently has a PB, or price-to-book, of 0.5! For a well-run property portfolio, this represents a good buying opportunity, and I am happy to hold and add to my position at these levels.

Disclaimer: I own Castellum in my All-Weather Portfolio.

#3 British American Tobacco – A Dividend Powerhouse 

I am not a friend of sin stocks and am not a holder of any tobacco, defense, or liquor stock. I hold Anheuser Busch, as I believe beer is on a different level than hard spirits.

For income investors, many consider British American Tobacco (BTI) as one of the best European stocks paying a quarterly dividend.

Owning brands such as Lucky Strike, Dunhill, Kent, Pall Mall, Rothmans, and Camel, this multinational also markets vapor or e-cigarettes, including its popular Vype brand of heated tobacco, Glo, and hand-rolled smokeless tobacco products.

It also owns a 31% stake in ITC Limited, India’s leading tobacco maker.

#4 Shell – The Best European Stock In The Energy Space

In another post, I summarized already why I believe Shell to be the best oil company.

As it is a UK-based company, shareholders get dividends “tax-free”, with no withholding tax deducted.

Shell is one of the largest oil produc aers in the world. It produces about 1.7 Mio barrels of liquid & 8.7 Bio cubic feet of natural gas per day.

Its production assets are located in Europe, Africa, the Americas, and Asia. The largest chemical plants, often integrated with local refineries, are located in Central Europe, China, Singapore, and North America.

Shell is an investor-favorite, and easily one of the five best European stocks with a quarterly dividend. Its strong pivot to renewable energy makes it also a “climate change” stock, as the company is one of the largest investors in renewable energy.

Disclaimer: I own Shell in my All-Weather Portfolio.

#5 ASML – The Dutch Tech Giant

Most people don’t know ASML, but it is by far the biggest of the presented 5 stocks.

The company was founded in 1984 and is based in the Netherlands.

Interesting ASML Fact:

The company Philips, ticker symbol $PHG, owns +20% of ASML, making their stake more valuable than their current market cap!

It is a worldwide leader in photolithography systems for semiconductor manufacturing.

What that means, simply put, is that ASML is “very good” in the process of exposing circuit patterns from a photomask onto a semiconductor wafer using a light source. LOL.

As I don’t understand a single word of what I just wrote, I don’t invest in tech stocks such as ASML. Remember Nokia? Sony Ericsson? Kodak? These tech sectors get disrupted every 2-3 years. Simply staying relevant and surviving is already an achievement.

When it comes to my long-term dividend portfolio, I decided to avoid tech stocks completely.

ASML managed to generate $23 Bio USD in sales, with a healthy gross margin of +50%.

For the tech-savvy investors among you, ASML is a very interesting pick, because it is a fast dividend grower, has superior tech (for now), and its products are essentially required for millions of different devices.

Personally, this stock is not for me.

Largest European Stocks, By Market Cap

When looking at the largest European companies by market cap, we can see that only one of the stocks presented above makes it onto this list: ASML.

Only one of the top seven companies with a market cap of +$200 Bio does so (ASML).

Conclusion

Of the 68 stocks to choose from, I believe those presented above are the best European stocks paying quarterly dividends. 

With those five stocks, investors get exposure to consumer staples, real estate, energy, and the tech space.

Personally, I hold Unilver, Castellum, and Shell, and am happy to hold them for years, or even decades, to come.

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