Dividend Yield Ratio Averages 2.3%

Korea Exchange announced on April 23 that 528 KOSPI-listed companies with a fiscal year ending in December paid a total dividend of 20,690.3 billion won last year. Previously, the dividend increased from 19,139.6 billion won in 2015 to 21,808.5 billion won in 2017 and then fell to 21,303.8 billion won in 2018.

The average dividend yield ratio, which rose from 1.74 percent in 2015 to 2.15 percent in 2018, was 2.3 percent last year. Its difference from the one-year treasury yield, 1.516 percent, reached a five-year high of 0.78 percentage point.

The communications industry posted a dividend yield ratio of 3.5 percent, followed by finance (3.27 percent) and electricity and gas (3.21 percent). The top 20 sectors’ dividend yield ratios exceeded the one-year treasury yield with the only exception of medicine and medical supplies (1.26 percent).

The average payout ratio rose from 34.88 percent to 41.25 percent in 2019. According to Korea Exchange, this is because listed companies that paid cash dividends last year did not significantly reduce their dividends in spite of a year-on-year decline of 38 percent in net profit.


In the meantime, 553 KOSDAQ-listed companies’ cash dividends totaled 1,573.4 billion won last year. The former figure did not change and the latter increased 7.4 percent. The average dividend yield ratio of the companies was 1.71 percent, higher than the treasury yield for the fourth consecutive year. The average payout ratio edged up from 31 percent to 32.4 percent in 2019.

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