4 Stocks This Week (Highest Dividend Yielding Singapore Stocks) [6 Nov 2020] Pacific Century (SGX: P15); ManulifeREIT (SGX: BTOU); Prime REIT (SGX: OXMU); Lung Kee (SGX: L09)

Singapore investors enjoy investing in stocks that pay us a good dividend yield. We can use this cash flow to continue investing in other income-producing investments, to use as a treat for ourselves, or even for daily expenses for retirees.

In this week’s edition of 4 Stocks This Week, we explore 4 Singapore-listed stocks, above $500 million in market capitalisation, that are currently providing the highest dividend yield. We compiled this list based on SGX’s Stock Screener results – which allows us to shortlist all Singapore-based stocks based on diverse selection criteria.

Another important thing to note during this period is that dividend yields may be artificially inflated as they are based on dividends given in previous months. If COVID-19 continues to batter economies, businesses will be impacted as well and dividends may sink. Another thing to remember is that higher returns tend to be associated with higher risk – so we need to be careful when investing, especially in companies giving out the highest dividends.

Read Also: Here’s How You Can Start Building A Dividend Income Portfolio To Replace Your Wage In Singapore

Pacific Century (SGX: P15)

Pacific Century (SGX:P15) has business interests in telecommunications, media, IT solutions, logistics and property development, and investments in Asia-Pacific. This is mainly owing to its most significant investment, PCCW, which is a leading telecommunications provider.

Currently trading at $0.295 per share, Pacific Century has a market capitalisation of $781.2 million. Since the start of the year, its share price has dropped 7.8% – from $0.32 – mainly due to COVID-19 disruptions on its businesses.

According to SGX Stock Screener, Pacific Century is currently trading at a dividend yield of 12.6%. This comes on the back of 9.2% increase in revenue reported in its interim results in August 2020. However, for the first 6 months of 2020, it recorded a loss of $20.8 million due to its share of loss from associate companies due to COVID-19 related business disruptions.

During its interim results, it announced a dividend of 2.3 Singapore cents per share.

Read Also: Why Investors Need To Diversify Their Dividend Income, And How They Can Do It

ManulifeREIT (SGX: BTOU)

ManulifeREIT (SGX: BTOU) has a portfolio of nine “prime, freehold and Trophy or Class A quality” office properties in the US. These properties are located in key markets in California, Georgia, New Jersey and Washington.

ManulifeREIT is currently trading at a unit price of US$0.73 – giving it a market capitalisation of US$1.16 billion ($1.56 billion). In the year-to-date 2020, it has lost about 27.0% of its market value mainly to the COVID-19 uncertainties and disruptions on its stable of office properties.

According to SGX Stock Screener, ManulifeREIT is currently trading at a distribution yield of  9.3%. In its latest 3Q2020 operational updates announced on 5 November, its occupancy rate was 94.3%, a shade lower than the 96.2% announced during its 1H2020 announcement.

During its 1H2020 results released in August, it announced a distribution of 3.05 US cents per unit, a 0.3% year-on-year increase compared to the year before.

Read Also: Investing In Dividend Paying Stocks: 3 Simple Financial Ratios To Understand

Prime REIT (SGX: OXMU)

Another US-based REIT, Prime REIT (SGX: OXMU) has a stable of 12 Class A freehold office properties located in 10 key US office markets, including California, Texas, Geogia and Pennsylvania.

Currently trading at a unit price of US$0.755, Prime REIT has a market capitalisation of US$797.3 million ($1.1 billion). Similar to ManulifeREIT, its share price has come down since the start of the year – currently trading at 21.8% lower in year-to-date 2020.

According to SGX Stock Screener, Prime REIT is currently trading at a distribution yield of 9.0%. Its portfolio occupancy was 93%, which was slightly lower than 6 months prior – when it reported an occupancy of 95.8% in FY2019.

During its 1H2020 results announced in August, it reported a distribution per unit of 3.52 US cents. This was 5.1% higher compared to its IPO forecast.

Read Also: How Much You Need To Invest In Order To Live The Lifestyle You Want?

Lung Kee Bermuda (SGX: L09)

Lung Kee (SGX: L09) is primarily listed on the Hong Kong Exchange (HKeX), and secondary listed on the SGX. It is an investment holding company with subsidiaries in manufacturing and marketing of mould basis and trading of metal and parts.

Lung Kee is currently trading at $0.38, and a market capitalisation of HK$1.5 billion ($265.9 million). Since the start of the year, Lung Kee’s share price has come down by 15.5%.

According to SGX Stock Screener, Lung Kee currently has a dividend yield of 8.6%. During its 1H2020 results announcement, it reported a 14.8% dip in its revenue to HK$955.6 million. Its profit for the period remained relatively stable compared to the year before at HK$67.1 million.

During the release of its 1H2020 results, it also declared an interim dividend of HK10 cents.

Read Also: Income Investing: How To Select The Right Stocks To Build A Sustainable Income Stream

4 Stocks This Week is not a recommendation from us to buy or sell any of these stocks. For investors who are keen to find out more, you should continue researching about them before making your investment decisions.

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