In terms of the experts tracked by GuruFocus, 18 have positions in the company, with 10 buying in the quarter ended Dec. 31 and three selling. David Einhorn (Greenlight Capital) opened a new position in the company, purchasing 1.6 million shares. Other significant positions are held by Ken Fisher, Hotchkis & Wiley, James Barrow, Dodge & Cox, Charles Brandes and Mason Hawkins (Southeastern Asset Management).
Utilizing my dividend scoring system, Vodaphone receives only a score of 6. I actually haven’t evaluated any company that has scored lower than this!
GlaxoSmithKline plc (ADR) (NYSE:GSK) is currently selling at approximately $46 per share and is yielding 6.0%. The stock is trading 4% under its 52-week high, and its one-year analyst target price is $47.09, for a potential 3% gain. The five analysts who cover the company rank it a 2.6 with one Strong Buy rating and four Holds.
In terms of the experts who are tracked by Gurufocus, 16 currently own the stock. Nine experts bought into the company in the last quarter, and three sold. Significant positions are held by Dodge & Cox, Edward Owens, Warren Buffett, PRIMECAP Management, Ken Fisher and Charles Brandes.
GlaxoSmithKline scores an 8 on my scoring system.
The final company, Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR), is currently selling at approximately $62 per share and is yielding 5.4%. The stock price is 17% lower than its 52-week high, and its one-year analyst target price is $64.86, for a potential 5% gain. The 16 analysts who cover the company rank it a 2.6 with one Strong Buy rating, one Buy, 11 Holds and three Underperforms.
In terms of the experts who are tracked by Gurufocus, 10 currently own the stock. Six experts bought into the company in the last quarter, and two sold. Significant positions are held by Jean-Marie Eveillard (First Eagle Investment Management), Brian Rogers, Richard Pzena, and James Barrow.
Entergy also scores an 8 on my scoring system.
While I admire all of these famous investors and acknowledge that they have much more experience than I do, I cannot agree with them regarding any of the companies on this list.
Of course, I expect that their reasons for buying into a company are far different from my own, but I dislike these all based on their limited history of paying dividends, their lousy one-year returns and poor prognosis for their next five years’ earnings growth rates. The only thing attractive about these five companies, in my opinion, is the generous yield. But it’s not enough for me.
The article 5 Dividend Companies Favored by Top Investors originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Karin Hernandez.
Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
