The most-popular dividend shares among global fund managers
We reveal the global income stocks the pros have the most exposure to.
30th April 2025 09:31
by Kyle Caldwell from interactive investor
Over the past decade, more investors have broadened their horizons by adding international diversification to their portfolios.
For income-seeking investors, the UK has a rich dividend heritage, but there are some drawbacks. The first is that income is highly concentrated among the biggest payers, with figures from Computershare showing that the top 15 dividend stocks accounted for 59% of all dividend payments in 2024.
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Another downside is that the UK market has a bias to old-economy industries and sectors, such as mining and banking, with little exposure to tech companies.
Therefore, it is the fund managers running global equity income funds who can cast their nets wider, reflecting the less-concentrated nature of global dividends.
It is a good idea to have some exposure to as many markets as possible to access the best companies. An easy way for income investors to ensure that most bases are covered is to opt for a global equity income fund. We looked under the bonnet, via Morningstar, to discover the most popular dividend-paying shares among UK fund managers, but in this article, the focus is on global equity income funds.
Data, from Morningstar to the end of March, highlights the 20 most-popular shares ranked by the sector average percentage weighting for global equity income funds.
Consumer-facing businesses, tech firms and healthcare companies dominate the table.
There have been three newcomers and three exits in the table since June when the data was last compiled. Otis Worldwide (NYSE:OTIS), a US company that makes escalators and lifts, enters in 14th place. Another US stock, Emerson Electric (NYSE:EMR), the technology, software and engineering firm, joins in 16th, while UK consumer staple stock Reckitt Benckiser (LSE:RKT) enters in 18th. Its portfolio includes a variety of household and consumer health brands, such as Lysol, Finish, Durex, and Mucinex.
Losing their places in the top 20 are AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV), Schneider Electric (EURONEXT:SU), and Sanofi (EURONEXT:SAN).
Overall, the dividend yields are notably lower than those of the 20 most-popular UK dividend shares, with the main motivation for holding some of these stocks, such as tech firms Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO), being their growth prospects, rather than the income paid to shareholders.
Fund managers are light on world’s biggest dividend payers in 2024
The latest Global Dividend Index, published last month by fund firm Janus Henderson, highlights the breadth of the global dividend market. This is reflected by the top 10 global dividend payers of 2024 accounting for only 8.4% of overall dividend growth.
Of the top 10, only two, Microsoft and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), appear in our table.
The other eight top 10 payers of 2024, Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM), HSBC (LSE:HSBA), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), China Construction Bank (SEHK:939), PetroChina (SEHK:857), China Mobile (SEHK:941), JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM), and Chevron (NYSE:CVX), do not feature.
Janus Henderson’s forecast is for global dividends to grow 5.0% in 2025 to a record $1.83 trillion.
| Company | Ranking at end of March 2025 | Ranking at end of June 2024 | Forecast dividend yield (%) |
| Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) | 1 | 1 | 0.8 |
| Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) | 2 | 4 | 3.3 |
| CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) | 3 | 2 | 4.1 |
| Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) | 4 | 14 | 3.3 |
| Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) | 5 | 5 | 2.9 |
| Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) | 6 | 8 | 2.5 |
| Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN) | 7 | 10 | 3.4 |
| Roche (SIX:ROG) | 8 | 9 | 3.7* |
| Unilever (LSE:ULVR) | 9 | 7 | 3.4 |
| Deutsche Boerse (XETRA:DB1) | 10 | 16 | 1.5 |
| Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM) | 11 | 12 | 1.8 |
| BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) | 12 | 20 | 2.3 |
| Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) | 13 | 6 | 2.7 |
| Otis Worldwide Corp Ordinary Shares (NYSE:OTIS) | 14 | Outside top 20 | 1.7 |
| PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) | 15 | 11 | 4.2 |
| Emerson Electric (NYSE:EMR) | 16 | Outside top 20 | 2 |
| Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) | 17 | 3 | 1.1* |
| Reckitt Benckiser Group (LSE:RKT) | 18 | Outside top 20 | 4.5 |
| Nestle (SIX:NESN) | 19 | 13 | 3.6* |
| Diageo (LSE:DGE) | 20 | 17 | 3.7 |
Source: SharePad. Forecast dividend yield data sourced on 28 April 2025. *Current yield, as forecast yield data not available.
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