5 Best Wine Stocks to Invest in 2021

4. Diageo plc (NYSE: DEO)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 22    

Diageo plc (NYSE: DEO) is a United Kingdom-based company that makes and sells alcoholic products. It was founded in 1997 and is ranked fourth on our list of 10 best wine stocks to invest in 2021. The stock has returned more than 30% to investors over the past twelve months. The firm owns many famous brands, including Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff, Baileys, Captain Morgan, Tanqueray, and Guinness, among several more. The company is one of the largest alcohol firms in the world with a market cap of over $112 billion. 

On June 4, investment advisory Argus upgraded Diageo plc (NYSE: DEO) stock to Buy from Hold with a price target of $225. The advisory also updated fiscal year 2021 earnings per share estimates for the firm to $6.30 from $5.80. 

Out of the hedge funds being tracked by Insider Monkey, Virginia-based investment firm Markel Gayner Asset Management is a leading shareholder in the firm with 1.3 million shares worth more than $221 million.

In its Q1 2021 investor letter, Weitz Investment Management, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and Diageo plc (NYSE: DEO) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:

“We sold Diageo after twelve years of very profitable ownership. The global spirits company has done a fine job of growing earnings, and the stock has enjoyed an extra boost from substantial, multiple expansions along the way. While the business is in good hands, we think a repeat of our mid-double-digit annualized return experience is far less likely. We simply see better risk/reward profiles in the Fund’s other quality holdings.”