Of the 100 largest European companies, only British American Tobacco BATS has confirmed a quarterly dividend payment, which will see 61p paid to shareholders on August 14.
There are also a couple of companies—such as pharmaceutical stock Novo Nordisk NOVO B and Dutch bank ING INGA—that usually pay dividends in August, but they have not yet confirmed the payment.
Key Morningstar Metrics for British American Tobacco BATS
- Sector: Consumer Defensive
- Industry: Tobacco
- Morningstar Rating: ★★★
- Price/Fair Value: 1.05
- Morningstar Uncertainty Rating: Medium
- Forward Dividend Yield: 5.36%
Kristoffer Inton, equity analyst for Morningstar, says: “We rate British American Tobacco’s shareholder distributions as appropriate. The company has continued to increase its dividend even while it prioritized reducing leverage after the Reynolds acquisition. We think the company can continue to raise its dividend by nearly 4% per year with £4 billion left over for annual share repurchases or reducing debt. Historically, the company slowed repurchases after the acquisition, which made sense. It repurchased £2 billion in 2022 as leverage improved, which we think created value because we viewed the repurchases as taking place at a discount to our fair value estimate.”
Key Morningstar Metrics for Novo Nordisk NOVO B
Analyst: Karen Andersen, CFA
- Sector: Healthcare
- Industry: Drug Manufacturers - General
- Morningstar Rating: ★★★
- Price/Fair Value: 1.05
- Morningstar Uncertainty Rating: High
- Forward Dividend Yield: 4.87%
Karen Andersen, equity analyst for Morningstar, says: “On distributions, Novo has an impressive record of protecting shareholder value and focusing on returning value through share repurchases and dividends. These distributions have steadily grown to DKK 53 billion in 2025, up from DKK 34 billion in 2018. Novo’s payout ratio is around 50%, similar to other pharma firms, and we expect rising cash flows to still preserve room for bolt-on acquisitions in the coming years, or a larger acquisition that might add more debt to the capital structure.”
Key Morningstar Metrics for ING INGA
- Sector: Financial Services
- Industry: Banks - Diversified
- Morningstar Rating: ★★★
- Price/Fair Value: 1.17
- Morningstar Uncertainty Rating: High
- Forward Dividend Yield: 3.75%
Johann Scholtz, equity analyst for Morningstar, says: “ING’s shareholder distribution policy is appropriate. It has been executing regular share buybacks to return excess capital to shareholders, which augments ING’s stated dividend policy of paying 50% of earnings in cash dividends.”
