5 Best Dividend Leaders to Buy According to Hedge Funds

3. Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 75

Dividend Yield as of February 3: 3.23%

Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) is one of the best dividend leaders to buy according to smart investors. On January 31, Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) declared a $0.91 per share quarterly dividend, in line with previous. The dividend is payable on March 10, to shareholders of record on February 14. The company has decided to buy back a portion of its outstanding shares, which can help increase the value of the remaining shares. Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) has set a limit of $35 billion for the total amount it will spend on share repurchases in the 2023-2024 period.

On February 2, Argus analyst Bill Selesky raised the firm’s price target on Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) to $133 from $128 and kept a Buy rating on the shares. The analyst explained that the increase in earnings in the fourth quarter can be attributed to higher crude oil and natural gas prices and an increase in production. Despite the significant growth of Exxon Mobil’s shares in both 2022 and 2023, the analyst believes that the future looks promising due to strong energy market fundamentals.

According to Insider Monkey’s data, 75 hedge funds were long Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) at the end of September 2022, compared to 72 funds in the prior quarter. Rajiv Jain’s GQG Partners is the leading position holder in the company, with 33.8 million shares worth $3 billion. 

In its Q2 2022 investor letter, First Eagle Investments, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:

“Integrated oil and gas giant Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) performed well in the second quarter as continued high prices for energy products supported the stock. As the largest refiner in the US, the company has benefitted from wide “crack spreads,” or the margin between the cost of crude oil and the petroleum products extracted from it. Exxon continues to invest in refining capacity in the US, which industry wide has been in steady decline since 2019. We are pleased that Exxon has been using its strong cash flows to reduce debt and to return cash to shareholders through dividends and stock repurchases.”