5 Dividend Stocks Billionaire Mario Gabelli Loves

2. Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 94

Dividend Yield as of May 20: 2.40%

Billionaire investor Mario Gabelli appears to be bullish on the financial services sector. As of Q1 2022, GAMCO Investors owns more than 1.39 million shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC). The fund’s Q1 stakes are estimated at $67.58 million, which accounts for 0.61% of its investment portfolio. Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) is a top dividend stock pick of Mr. Gabelli and boasts a forward yield of 2.40% as of May 20.

On April 18, Barclays analyst Jason Goldberg raised his price target on Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) to $64 from $62 and reiterated an Overweight rating on the shares.

Davis Funds, an investment management firm, named a few companies in its “Davis Opportunity Fund” fourth-quarter 2021 investor letter and Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) was one of them. Here is what the firm said:

“The absolute level of revenues and profits generated by such companies is in fact so large that most of the major financial holdings in the portfolio produce enough annual operating income individually that a number of them could, in theory, purchase several entire businesses among hundreds of choices within the S&P 1500 Index, using just a year’s cash earnings without dipping into capital. This is theoretical, as financial companies would not be in the business of buying healthcare or technology companies, for example, but we point out these facts to illustrate the sheer scale of the economics produced by single financial companies in a given year, which is often a multiple of the cash earnings yielded by companies in a host of other industries.

Given this cash-generation power, we are naturally drawn to what we believe are strong and profitable financial institutions when the price is right. Presently, we believe the valuations of our financial holdings are not only reasonable, but extremely compelling, and our portfolio composition reflects this view. Representative financial holdings in the Fund includes Wells Fargo.”