Here's my best ASX passive income share of 2023 so far (2024)

My best passive income stock has showered me with cash this year.

So I've done some research, and portfolio digging to find the best passive income-paying ASX dividend share in my portfolio over 2023 so far. While you might think finding my best passive income share was a simple task, in reality, it wasn't. So today, I'll explain why, and discuss a few of my dividend winners over this year to date.

On the raw numbers, my best passive income share in 2023 has been an unlikely one – Newcrest Mining. Newcrest was once the ASX's largest gold miner. However, it's not even an ASX share anymore, having recently been swallowed up by the US gold mining giant Newmont Corporation. In Newcrest's place, I now own Newmont Corporation (ASX: NEM) shares.

Normally, one wouldn't expect a gold miner to be a top dividend share in an ASX stock portfolio. Particularly one that includes the likes of National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) and Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS), as mine does.

But a few things have pushed Newcrest shares over the top.

How has a gold miner topped my passive income shares in 2023?

For one, the company did pay out some decent passive income in the form of dividends over the year. Investors enjoyed a March interim dividend of 22.35 cents per share, and a September final dividend of 31.25 cents per share. Those were increases over 2022's interim dividend of 10.44 cents per share and 29.16 cents per share respectively.

Together, those two 2023 dividends represented a yield of 2.41% at Newcrest's last ASX share price of $23.35.

But Newcrst has also paid out two special dividends this year. The first was the one that came alongside the March interim dividend, worth another 29.8 cents per share. That pushes Newcrst's yield to 3.57%.

The clincher was the special final dividend that was doled out just before Newcrest disappeared into Newmont's arms. This monster payout came to a whopping $1.7244 per share, and pushes this yield all the way up to 10.96% by my calculations.

However, based on what share price I've bought Newcrest at over the years, my own yield on cost was something closer to 18%. Thank you very much.

As you can see, my best-yielding passive income share for 2023 was something of a one-off fluke.

So I thought it only fair to discuss my next best passive income shares as well.

Two more dividend heavyweights in my ASX portfolio

The first is the VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat ETF (ASX: MOAT). This US-based exchange-traded fund (ETF) doesn't typically pay out huge dividend distributions. But thanks to some huge capital gains in its portfolio over the 2022 financial year, its last dividend contribution came in at a whopping $8.15 per unit.

At the current MOAT share price, this translates into a trailing yield of 7.76%. That's a lot of passive income right there. However, it is worth pointing out that this dividend was the first the ETF had paid in 18 months. So that probably helped beef it up a little.

My third-best passive income share form this year has been Bank of Queensland Ltd (ASX: BOQ). Bank of Queensland usually doles out hefty dividends, as befits an ASX bank stock. This year's payments consisted of an interim dividend of 20 cents per share and a final dividend of 21 cents per share. Both came fully franked. This gives BoQ shares a trailing yield of 7.51% today.