Given the relative importance of dividends, it is perhaps of some value to determine the European companies with the highest yields. Among the ten sectors, Telecom and Utilities stand out while Tech stocks offer the lowest average yield and the fewest number of companies participating in dividend payment programs:
It is interesting to note, though, that two-thirds of the dividend-paying Telecom companies are actually cutting their dividend-- versus more than 85% of Materials companies that are raising dividends:
Whether on a three-, five-, or ten-year basis, dividend increases have been concentrated in the Health Care, Consumer Staples, Materials, and Consumer Discretionary sectors:
A list of the highest dividend-yielding stocks in MSCI Europe:
