Five Dividend Stocks You Should Look Into

#3 Pfizer Inc. 

– Number of Hedge Fund Holders (as of June 30): 94
– Total Value of Hedge Fund Holdings (as of June 30): $5.67 billion
– Hedge Fund Holdings as Percent of Float (as of June 30): 2.70%

Although many of its pharma peers have seen their stock prices decline sharply due to the Mylan NV (NASDAQ:MYL) EpiPen controversy, Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)’s shares have held up comparatively well. One big reason for Pfizer’s resilience is that the company makes most of its profits from drugs created by its internal research and development (or its acquisitions R&D) and not from price hikes of existing, older-generation drugs. Another reason is that investors have more confidence in management’s plan to unlock value for shareholders in the years to come. Shares currently yield a payout of almost 3.5% at current prices. At the end of June, 94 funds tracked by us were long Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE).

#2 JPMorgan Chase & Co.
– Number of Hedge Fund Holders (as of June 30): 99
– Total Value of Hedge Fund Holdings (as of June 30): $7.24 billion
– Hedge Fund Holdings as Percent of Float (as of June 30): 3.20%

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) is perhaps the best bank in the finance sector. Not only does JPMorgan have great conservative management, but also the company has a fortress-like balance sheet. Throw in JPMorgan’s diversification, its $1.92 per share annual dividend (which gives its stock a 2.84% yield at current prices), and its 1.08 price-to-book ratio, and it’s not surprising that 99 funds from our database had a bullish position in JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) at the end of June, compared to 97 funds a quarter earlier. Many analysts expect JPMorgan to benefit if interest rates rise.

#1 Microsoft Corporation

– Number of Hedge Fund Holders (as of June 30): 131
– Total Value of Hedge Fund Holdings (as of June 30): $18.82 billion
– Hedge Fund Holdings as Percent of Float (as of June 30): 4.70%

Given its majority market share in the PC market, its strong customer lock-in in enterprise, and its progress in growth markets such as the cloud and virtual reality, it’s not surprising that many investors would have Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in their portfolios. Although the process has taken almost a decade, Microsoft is now officially beyond the PC. Rather than depending on a segment that is in a secular decline, Microsoft’s future fortunes depend more on the cloud and enterprise productivity instead. Investors have taken notice of Microsoft’s diversification. Microsoft’s shares are up by 36% in the last year and 6% in the green year-to-date. Despite the rally, Microsoft’s shares still pay an attractive yield of over 2.5% at current prices. David Blood and Al Gore‘s Generation Investment Management increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9% in the second quarter to over 15.1 million shares held at the end of June.

Disclosure: None