Top 10 Dividend Stocks for 2020

The year 2020 brings about immense new opportunities for the United Kingdom. The parting of ways of the country from the European Union promises to bring about transformative changes in the way business in done. There are several sectors of the economy which will be at an advantage as more business will be coming their way as flow of goods and services from other European countries will be curtailed. Sectors like banking and hospitality could be performing poorly on account of restriction on movement of people. There is then the case of global economic cues which look to transform in a certain way in 2020 and will affect the fortunes of certain companies correspondingly.

Below are ten stocks which have a good history of distributing dividends and given that the next year is looking be transformative, these are most expected to repeat their dividend pay-out performance or surpass it.

1. Rio Tinto Plc – (LON:RIO) Rio Tinto Plc (RIO) is an Anglo-Australian mining and metal corporation based out of Melbourne Australia. Founded in 1873 the company has over the years grown through mergers and acquisitions. It is the world’s foremost producers of aluminium, uranium, copper, iron ore and diamonds. The company though is having operations in six continents, its operations are mainly concentrated in Canada and Australia.

The last dividend paid by Rio Tinto Plc was the interim dividend of 151.00¢ per share paid on 19 September 2019 along with a special dividend of 61.00¢ per share on same date for year ending 2018-19. Prior to that Rio Tinto Plc paid a final dividend of 180.00¢ per share on 18 April 2019 along with a special dividend of 243.00¢.

The company in the year 2020 will benefit due to strengthening metal prices. In the past couple of years, the Chinese economy has been showing weakness, because of which many of the mining and metal giants were performing poorly. The Chinese economy is expected to perform much better in 2020.

2. BHP Group Plc – (LON:BHP) BHP Group Plc is an Australia domiciled multinational mining, mineral exploration and petroleum exploration and production company. The company is Anglo-Australian with its headquarters in Melbourne Australia with operations located in Australia, North America and South America while its petroleum operations are located in United States, Australia, Trinidad & Tobago and Algeria.

The last dividend paid by BHP Group Plc was the final dividend of 2019 (FY 2019) of 78.00 ¢ per share paid on 25 September 2019. Before that BHP Group Plc had paid an interim dividend of 55.00 ¢ per share on 26 March 2019.  Prior to that BHP Group Plc paid a special dividend of 102.00 ¢ per share on 30 January 2019.

Like Rio Tinto BHP group will also affected by the weakness in Chinese economy. With the strengthening of the Chinese economy metal and mineral prices will strengthen leading to an improvement in the company’s fortunes.

3. Barratt Developments Plc – (LON:BDEV) Barratt Developments Plc is a United Kingdom domiciled holding company engaged in the business of residential construction and property development. The company acquires land, plans , designs, develops, constructs and sells residential and commercial properties. The group's business operations are Housebuilding and Commercial developments. Around 99 per cent of the group's total revenue comes from housebuilding segment.

The last dividend paid by Barratt Developments Plc was a special dividend of 17.30 pence per share paid on 5 November 2019, with that the company also paid a final dividend for the year at 19.50 pence per share. Â Before to that Barratt Developments Plc had paid an interim dividend of 9.60 pence paid on 7 May 2019.

The housing prices in the United Kingdom has already started to show signs of strength post December 2019 general elections results. As the 31 January 2020 Brexit date passes, the demand in the housing sector is expected to rise exponentially. The housing industry for the past few years has been under immense downward pressure.

4. Evraz Plc – (LON:EVR) Evraz Plc is a Russian Steel production giant. It has interests in steel, vanadium and mining & minerals, with business operations in the countries of the Russian Federation, the United States, Kazakhstan Canada, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Italy, and South Africa. The company’s principal activities include iron ore mining, iron ore beneficiation and steel smelting apart from producing vanadium based products and also trading and logistics activities relating to these products. The company also has holding interests in energy producing companies, shipping and railways transport companies.

The last dividend paid by Evraz Plc was the second interim dividend for 2019 (FY 2019) of 35.00 ¢ per share paid on 05 September 2019. Prior to that Evraz Plc had paid a first interim dividend of 40.00 ¢ on 29 March 2019 (FY 2019).

This company will also be benefitting from strengthening commodity prices in 2020. In the precious metals segment vanadium prices have been strengthening through 2019 and continue trending in that direction in 2020 as well

5. Taylor Wimpey Plc – (LON: TW.) Taylor Wimpey Plc (TW) is a Wycombe, United Kingdom domiciled leading residential housing developer and real estate company having a majority of its operations in the United Kingdom with a small operation in Spain as well. The company within the United Kingdom has 24 local offices as part of its construction business it builds a wide range of high-quality properties, with a broad price range. The operations of the company are categorized into four geographical segregation business segments, namely North, Central & South West, London & South East, and Spain.

The last dividend paid by Taylor Wimpey Plc was interim of 2019 (FY 2019) of 3.84 pence per share paid on 08 November 2019.

Like Barratt Developments Plc this company will also benefit from strengthening housing market in the United Kingdom. The company gave out a good earning performance last year and with the improvement in this market in 2020 it will continue to perform well.

6. AstraZeneca Plc – (LON:AZN) AstraZeneca Plc is a United Kingdom domiciled international, science-led biopharmaceutical company. Headquartered in Cambridge, the group focuses on discovering, developing, manufacturing and commercializing prescription medicines with operations spread the world with business in over hundred countries. Though the Company selectively pursue therapies in autoimmunity, neuroscience and infection, its three focus areas are: Oncology, Cardiovascular & Metabolic Disease (CVMD) and Respiratory diseases. The Company's geographic segments are grouped as the UK, Continental Europe, the Americas, and Asia, Africa & Australasia. The company also teams alongside the world's leading academic and biotech research institutions and have a clinical collaboration with Immunometric

The latest dividend paid by AstraZeneca Plc was the interim dividend of 2019 of 90.00 ¢ per share on 9 September 2019. Before that AstraZeneca Plc had paid the second interim dividend for 2018 of 190.00¢ per share on 27 March 2019.

The company had some significant successes in its drug trials, which are in the field of heart diseases and lung cancer with each of them having immense revenue generation potential. The Company would be able to monetize on these opportunities in 2020.

7. Micro Focus International PLC– (LON:MCRO) Micro Focus International PLC is a Berkshire, United Kingdom-headquartered is a leading infrastructure software company with global scale, which specialises in managing predominantly mature infrastructure software assets to help organisations bridge the old and the new. The group delivers value to approximately 40,000 customers and is the largest technology company listed on the London Stock Exchange and is the seventh-largest software company in the world. The Company helps organisations preserve and protect their data and business logic and gain incremental and sustainable returns on investments.

The last dividend paid by Micro Focus International PLC was on 30 September 2019 of 58.33 cents per share. Before that Micro Focus International PLC had paid a dividend of 58.33 cents per share on 5 April 2019 as well.

The company had last year acquired the enterprise software business of Hewlett Packard and was having problems integrating it with its own platform. The acquired business is a highly successful one and will put the Company in a high growth gear when the integration issues are resolved.

8. Imperial Brands Plc - (LON:IMB) Imperial Brands Plc is a United Kingdom domiciled fast-moving consumer goods company with which was built from a core cigarette business. Headquartered in Bristol the Company offers a comprehensive range of cigarettes, fine cut and smokeless tobaccos, papers and cigars and is increasingly focusing its attention on developing and expanding its Next Generation Products (NGP) portfolio. The company has two segments, Tobacco & NGP.

The latest dividend to be paid by the Imperial Brands Plc is on 31 March 2020 of 72.01 pence per share, prior to that Imperial Brands Plc paid dividend on 30 September 2019 amounting to 31.28 pence per share and before to that Imperial Brands Plc also paid dividend of 31.28 pence per share on 28 June 2019 and a dividend of 65.46 pence per share on 31 December 2018.

The company is in a transition process and is trying to become leaner as an organisation with an increased focus on consumers, in this regard the Company had launched a new generation products (NGP) programme which has yielded its excellent results. In all probability, the Company will continue to gain in this regard in the new year as well.

9. Royal Dutch Shell Plc Class A – (LON:RDSA) Royal Dutch Shell PLC is a Netherlands domiciled international group of energy and petrochemical company, which engages in exploring, producing, refining and marketing oil and natural gas. Headquartered in The Hague, the company explores for natural gas and crude oil globally, in conventional fields and from other sources, such as coal formations, tight rock and shale. The group also manufactures and markets chemicals. Royal Dutch Shell PLC, which is incorporated in England and Wales, is the parent company of the Shell group. The Integrated Gas business is involved in the activities related to the liquefaction and transportation of gas. All the activities related to conversion of natural gas into liquid energies and other products is also part of Integrated Gas business. The activities related to Upstream, which includes extraction and exploration of natural gas, natural gas liquids and crude oil, and transportation and marketing of gas and oil, Oil Sands, which include production of synthetic crude oil from bitumen extracted from mined oil sands. All such activities are carried out through the Upstream segment. The activities related to manufacturing, and marketing of oil products and chemicals are engaged through the Downstream segment. The company has an employee base of around 86,000 employees in over 70 countries globally.

The last dividend of Royal Dutch Shell PLC is the Q 3 dividend of 2019 of 47.00 ¢ per share paid on 18 December 2019 And before to that Royal Dutch Shell PLC had paid Q 2 dividend of 2019 of 47.00 ¢ per share paid on 23 September 2019 and before that Q 1 dividend of 2019 of 47.00¢ per share 24 June 2019.

The beginning of 2020 came with a significant spike in crude prices due to the breaking out of hostilities between Iran and the United States of America. The prices of crude are expected to stay high throughout 2020.

10. GlaxoSmithKline Plc – (LON:GSK) Glaxo SmithKline Plc is a United Kingdom based global pharmaceutical major. The company's product portfolio includes prescription medicines and vaccines and range across therapeutic areas such as anti-infective, dermatology, gynecology, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and respiratory diseases, vaccines for the prevention of hepatitis A, hepatitis B, invasive disease caused by Hemophilus influenza, chickenpox, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, rotavirus, cervical cancer, streptococcus pneumonia and others.

The last dividend of Royal Dutch Shell PLCÂ was the Q 3 dividend of 2019 of 19.00 pence per share paid on 09 January 2020 and before to that Royal Dutch Shell PLC Â had paid Q 2 dividend of 2019 of 19.00 pence per share on 10 October 2019 and before that the Q 1 dividend of 2019 of 19.00 pence per share paid on 11 July 2019.

The company has been a steady performer and has not been much affected by negative headwinds hovering over United Kingdom over the past couple of years. In the 2020 the company is expected to continue with its good performance.