Bill Gates’ High Conviction Dividend Growth Stocks Revisited

#3 Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

– Elite Investors with Long Positions (as of June 30): 31
– Aggregate Value of Elite Investors’ Holdings (as of June 30): $1.30 billion
– Percentage of Shares Owned by Elite Investors (as of June 30): 6.1%

Waste Management is the leader in waste management services in the United States. It has raised its dividend every year since 2003 and has a strong durable competitive advantage, with an established network of 260 landfills and 310 transfer stations. The company has grown its EPS by around 5% annually and has maintained its pace this year too.

Shares of Waste Management were up by 8.29% during the third quarter, greatly outperforming the market, as investors warmed up to the company’s reasonable valuation of 19.3 times forward earnings and dividend yield of 2.91%.

Bill Gates benefited from the stock’s strong performance, as he owns 18.63 million shares of Waste Management, worth $863 million at the end of June. Gates’ Waste Management shares make up 5.07% of his equity portfolio. Other elite investors long Waste Management include Cliff Asness‘ AQR Capital Management and David Harding’s Winton Capital Management.