The first wave of mid-term dividends from brokerages has been rolled out. China Merchants Securities has distributed 1.2 billion yuan in dividends, and 28 listed brokerages have paid out a total of 27.9 billion yuan.
China Merchants Securities takes the lead in launching the 2026 interim dividend among brokerages.
On September 15, China Merchants Securities implemented its 2026 interim dividend, distributing a cash payout of RMB 0.167 per share (tax included), totaling RMB 1.452 billion, of which RMB 1.239 billion was distributed to A-shares.
Two days later (September 17), the 2026 interim dividends of Hongta Securities and First Venture will also be implemented. The total interim dividend of the aforementioned three brokerages exceeds RMB 1.7 billion.
In the first half of this year, the performance of listed brokerages hit a new record high again, and the total dividend is expected to achieve a leap. According to Wind data, 28 listed brokerages have currently announced their 2026 interim dividend plans, with the total cash dividend amount reaching RMB 27.916 billion, a significant increase of about 45% compared to the same period last year.
In terms of trends, many brokerages have joined the interim dividend queue this year, such as Changjiang Securities and Guosen Securities, among which Changjiang Securities plans to make its first interim dividend since its listing.
Tian Lihui, a professor of finance at Nankai University, told Time Weekly reporter that the net profit of listed brokerages in the first half of the year increased by nearly 50% year-on-year, providing a solid profit foundation for dividends. The deeper signal is that interim dividend is evolving from a "selective move" of leading brokerages to an industry-wide institutional arrangement.
In Tian Lihui's view, Changjiang Securities's first participation shows that dividend is no longer just a generous gesture of brokerages with good performance, but has become a ruler to measure the maturity of corporate governance. When dividends move from "once a year" to "multiple times a year", the capital discipline and shareholder return awareness of brokerages are undergoing qualitative changes.
China Merchants Securities' A-share RMB 1.239 billion dividend has been credited, Changjiang Securities plans to implement its first interim dividend
From the perspective of China Merchants Securities' interim dividend, the total cash payout is RMB 1.452 billion, of which RMB 1.239 billion is for A-shares. In accordance with the previous profit distribution plan, the total amount of this interim dividend accounts for 13.67% of its attributable net profit for the first half of the year.
In recent years, the total interim dividend of China Merchants Securities has shown a year-on-year upward trend. The total interim dividend this year is about 40% higher than that of the 2025 interim period (RMB 1.035 billion), but the dividend ratio has decreased slightly compared with the same period last year.
The significant increase in total dividend may be closely related to the company's performance.
In the first half of this year, the attributable net profit of China Merchants Securities exceeded RMB 10 billion, hitting the best historical record. Data shows that the company achieved operating revenue of RMB 21.902 billion in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 108.19%; the attributable net profit was RMB 10.624 billion, a year-on-year increase of 104.87%. In the industry, China Merchants Securities is also the only brokerage that has doubled both its operating revenue and attributable net profit in the first half of the year.
In addition to China Merchants Securities, Hongta Securities and First Venture will also implement interim dividends on September 17, with total dividends of RMB 235 million and RMB 42 million respectively, and dividend ratios of 46.01% and 6.11% respectively.
Hongta Securities has the highest dividend ratio among the three aforementioned brokerages, and it has increased compared with the same period last year.
In the 2025 semi-annual period, Hongta Securities' total dividend was RMB 236 million (tax included), with a dividend ratio of 35.16%. Hongta Securities is controlled by Yunnan Hehe Group, and its actual controller is China National Tobacco Corporation. In terms of performance, the company's operating revenue in the first half of the year was RMB 1.023 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 14%; the attributable net profit was RMB 510 million, a year-on-year decrease of 23.93%.
Time Weekly reporter noticed that the interim dividend queue of brokerages has further expanded this year, and Changjiang Securities plans to implement its first interim dividend since its listing.
According to Changjiang Securities's interim dividend plan, it plans to distribute RMB 0.50 in cash for every 10 shares (tax included), with a total dividend of RMB 277 million. Changjiang Securities previously stated in the announcement that in order to increase investor returns and enhance investors' sense of gain, in accordance with relevant regulations, the company proposes the shareholders' meeting to authorize the board of directors to decide on the 2026 interim profit distribution plan on the premise of meeting the profit distribution conditions.
Changjiang Securities's performance in the first half of the year also hit a new record high, with operating revenue of RMB 7.426 billion, a year-on-year increase of 58.6%; the attributable net profit exceeded RMB 3 billion for the first time, reaching RMB 3.192 billion, a year-on-year increase of 83.80%.
At the same time, Guosen Securities has also joined this year's interim dividend camp, with a planned total dividend of RMB 1.024 billion. It is worth mentioning that Guosen Securities implemented dividends for the first three quarters of last year, with a total dividend of over RMB 1 billion.
The brokerage sector has fallen by 13.17% during the year, with the highest dividend yield reaching 4.55%
In the first half of the year, the performance of the "bull market flag bearer" brokerage sector achieved substantial growth, and many brokerages hit their best historical performance.
Wind data shows that in the first half of the year, 50 listed brokerages achieved a total operating revenue of RMB 371.53 billion, a year-on-year increase of about 43%; the total attributable net profit was RMB 167.221 billion, a year-on-year increase of about 48%.
However, in terms of stock price performance, the brokerage sector performed poorly during the year. Data shows that as of September 15, the Wind Brokerage Index has fallen by 13.17% during the year. During the year, the share prices of Huaan Securities, Changjiang Securities, China Merchants Securities and others recorded positive growth, among which Huaan Securities led the gains; while many brokerages such as Guosheng Securities, BOC Securities, Capital Securities, Xiangcai Co., Ltd. fell by more than 20% during the year.
The research report of China Galaxy Securities analyzes that the brokerage sector performed relatively sluggish in this round of market, and the overall trend of the sector deviated from the market sentiment, capital market conditions and the fundamental prosperity of the industry.
The research report believes that the current valuation of the securities sector is at a historically low level, with a serious short-term mismatch between fundamentals and market styles. Positive factors such as future market style switches, the landing of policies exceeding expectations, and major industry mergers and acquisitions are expected to become the core catalysts for the sector's valuation repair.
In terms of price-to-book ratio, as of September 15, China Fortune Securities ranks first in the industry with 5.06 times PB, and many companies such as Jinlong Group, East Money, Capital Securities, Cinda Securities have reached more than 2 times; however, there are still 18 listed brokerages including Sinolink Securities, Guoyuan Securities, Huaxi Securities, Northeast Securities that are "trading below book value", including many leading brokerages.
The aforementioned China Galaxy Securities research report analyzes that behind the current valuation differentiation, on the one hand, the market doubts the sustainability of the performance growth of brokerages, and on the other hand, small and medium-sized market capitalization brokerages enjoy valuation premiums with their theme attributes and trading flexibility, and some targets with technology innovation and wealth management characteristic labels are easily favored by funds in the short term.
In terms of dividend yield, as of September 15, 7 listed brokerages have a dividend yield of more than 3%, namely Guosen Securities, Soochow Securities, Changjiang Securities, Orient Securities, China Merchants Securities, Northeast Securities and Hongta Securities, among which Guosen Securities ranks first with 4.55%.
Tian Lihui told Time Weekly reporter that the core variable of brokerage valuation differentiation is the difference in the anti-cyclical ability of business structures.
He believes that proprietary business has steadily become the largest source of income for brokerages, and the level of proprietary flexibility directly determines the performance ranking and profit stability, thus becoming the "decisive factor" of valuation differentiation. The commission rate of brokerage business is close to the cost line, and brokerages that rely on traditional channel income naturally cannot obtain valuation premiums. The fact that many brokerages are "trading below book value" shows that the market has cast a vote of no confidence in the sustainability of the high growth of brokerage performance, and the industry valuation has been in the verification range of the strong cycle bottom.
For dividend yield, Tian Lihui believes that we need to view it dialectically. He said that dividend yield does have reference significance at this stage, but we need to look through the appearance to examine its source: the dividend yield supported by profit growth is a real safety cushion, while the dividend yield passively pushed up by falling stock prices may be a value trap. What is really worth paying attention to are those leading institutions with rising profit centers and sustainable dividend policies, whose dividend growth is far more valuable for investment guidance than the current static dividend yield.
This article is from the WeChat official account "Time Weekly" (ID: timeweekly), author: Lan Shuo, editor: Lu Yongzhi, published with authorization from 36Kr.