🇪🇺 The Top 30 European Dividend Stocks!
European Noble 30 📈
One of the best performing areas in the market over the last year?
The European Stock Index.
Vanguard’s European Stock Index Fund more than doubled the return of the S&P 500 in 2025:
S&P 500 Total Return: 16.65%
Vanguard’s European Stock Index Total Return: 36.44%
We highlighted this as an opportunity last year on Dividendology.com, as the valuation spread between U.S Equities and international equities was the widest it had been in years.
But despite this outperformance, International equities are still trading at one of their largest discounts relative to U.S. equities in years.
The S&P 500 trades at a 50% premium compared to international stocks.
Today, we will be looking at some of the best dividend growth opportunities in European markets.
Valuation 💰
The S&P 500 trades at a rich premium compared to the rest of the world.
S&P 500 forward P/E: 22.5x
MSCI World Ex-US forward P/E: 15.0x
To be fair, U.S. equities do deserve to trade at a premium over international stocks.
Historically, U.S. equities have traded at a premium due to faster earnings growth, stronger profitability, a larger concentration of high-growth tech companies, and the relative strength of the U.S. economy.
With that being said, this also creates scenarios where many international stocks get overlooked, creating disconnects from fair value.
For example, one of my best performing stocks over the last year was ASML, a company based in the Netherlands.
At one point last year, the company was trading at a P/E multiple of around 25x.
Their P/E now sits at nearly 47x.
The valuation multiple nearly doubled in the span of just one year!
Not to mention that EPS is growing (and projected to continue to grow) at above 20% annually.
A great example of an opportunity that arose after the valuation got disconnected from their true value.
The company has also stated that growing their dividend is a priority.
European Noble 30 📈
Buying shares of Vanguard’s European Stock Index Fund (VGK) is likely the easiest way to get exposure to European markets.
However, I prefer to hand select the European stocks I hold in my portfolio.
There are nearly 10,000 different publicly traded stocks in Europe.
So how do we narrow down where to start looking for quality dividend stocks?
My friend, European Dividend Growth Investor, created what is known as the European Noble 30 index.
The criteria is straightforward:
Must be headquartered in Europe
At least 20 consecutive years of paying or growing dividends
Market cap above €5 billion
Here are some key stats:
Many of these companies have been around for over a century.
These are 30 high-quality European stocks that make paying dividends a priority.
Using Tickerdata, I built a spreadsheet with in-depth details on the Noble 30 stocks.
You can download this spreadsheet here:
My Favorite International Dividend ETF 🏛️
IDVO is one of the more overlooked income ETFs on the market today.
While it’s technically an international fund, 30% of it’s holdings currently come from Europe.
The fund uses a covered call strategy, but only has portfolio options coverage of 30% - 60% at any given time, allowing for substantial NAV growth.
As a result, the NAV is up 22% in the last year.
And as a result of that, the growth in the distributions has been exceptional.
Keep in mind, IDVO seeks to provide gross annual income of approximately 3-4% from dividend income and 2-4% from option premium-
Making these distributions substantially more sustainable than traditional covered call ETFs.
On top of this, there are other fund issuers, such as IncomeShares, who are actively putting together income products for investors in European markets.
Many of their commodity ETPs are currently yielding close to 12%.
The Problem With European Dividend Stocks 🚩
There is a reason that the index is ‘The Noble 30’ and not ‘The Noble 300’.
Many European dividend stocks do not have the same commitment to rewarding shareholders the way U.S. stocks do.
In fact, most European dividend stocks have a few major differences that make them less attractive than U.S. dividend stocks:
Payout Frequency
Typically annual or semiannual, unlike U.S. stocks which pay quarterly
Dividend Policy
Dividends are often adjusted year to year based on profits
Withholding Taxes
Most European countries impose 15% to 35% dividend withholding taxes
In the spreadsheet above, you can see the data on payout frequency, dividend growth history, and withholding taxes is listed.
🛠️ P.S. – I Have Something BIG For You…
Dividendology has become the largest dividend investing Substack newsletter in the world over the last year.
Members have gotten access to exclusive tools such as:
Covered Call ETF Database
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Most Upside Dividend Stocks
However, I’m obsessed with providing as much value as possible.
That’s why I’ve been working on something in the background:
A Covered Call ETF database specifically for European investors, as well as expanding coverage of opportunities in European markets.
I believe this will provide tremendous value for European investors.
If you want to get access to this, as well as all the features mentioned below, you can do so here:
Stay tuned!
Dividendology
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I own Munich Re and Totalenergies.