This article presents an overview of the 5 Extreme Dividend Stocks With Upside Potential. For a detailed overview of such stocks, read our article, 12 Extreme Dividend Stocks With Upside Potential.
5. Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 14
Energy company Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) has a dividend yield of over 11%. The stock’s price target according to data compiled by Yahoo Finance is $36.10.
A total of 14 hedge funds out of the 910 funds tracked by Insider Monkey had stakes in Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR). The most significant stakeholder of Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) during this period was Brandon Haley’s Holocene Advisors which owns a $14 million stake in Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR).
Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) in Q3 earnings call talked about its dividends and buybacks:
We continue with strong capital distribution, in line with what we communicated at our Capital Markets update. For the quarter, the Board approved an ordinary cash dividend of $0.30 per share as well as continuing the extraordinary dividend of $0.60 per share, for a total of $0.90 in cash dividend.
We continue our share buyback program. The fourth and final tranche will be $1.67 billion in line with our program for 2023 of total $6 billion. For this year, we are delivering a total capital distribution of around $17 billion. Then turning to safety. In August, there was a fatality of a crew member who fell overboard on an LNG tanker in Malaysia. The vessel was in operation for Equinor and the tragic incident is affecting everyone involved. So, this is a strong reminder that even with a positive safety trend, we must keep focusing on safety in all our activities. Safety will remain our top priority. In the quarter, we produced 2,007,000 barrels of oil and gas per day. And as you see on the slide, this is essentially more oil, but less gas than in the third quarter last year.
Read the entire earnings call transcript here.
4. Nordic American Tankers Ltd (NYSE:NAT)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 15
Nordic American Tankers Ltd (NYSE:NAT) ranks 4th in our list of the extreme dividend stocks with upside potential. Data from Yahoo Finance shows that the stock’s price target set by analysts is $6.20. In November Nordic American Tankers Ltd (NYSE:NAT) posted Q3 results. GAAP EPS in the period came in at $0.04, missing estimates by $0.02. Revenue in the quarter jumped about 1.4% year over year to $48.04 million, missing estimates by $2.08 million.
Insider Monkey’s proprietary database of 910 hedge funds shows that 15 funds had stakes in Nordic American Tankers Ltd (NYSE:NAT).
3. Frontline Plc (NYSE:FRO)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 17
Another oil tanker company in our list, Frontline Plc (NYSE:FRO) in the third quarter earned $0.36 per share, missing estimates by $0.11. Revenue in the quarter fell about 1.3% year over year to $377.09 million, beating estimates by $128.29 million.
Answering a question about whether Frontline Plc (NYSE:FRO) has an official policy of paying 80% of earnings in dividends, Frontline Plc’s (NYSE:FRO) CEO Lars Barstad said:
“As you rightfully say, we don’t have a policy, but the expectation should be around 80%, and we’ll continue to do that, as long as the market allows us to do that. This is why we don’t really have a policy because we don’t want to be forced to pay out the dividend when it’s not kind of feasible from a financial perspective. So, this is basically at the discretion of our Board. But, we have a main shareholder who is more interested in dividends than you are, so I think you should expect that to continue going forward.”
Read the company’s earnings call transcript here.
2. British American Tobacco PLC (NYSE:BTI)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 17
According to Wall Street analyst price targets data compiled by Yahoo Finance, the average price target set by analysts for British American Tobacco PLC (NYSE:BTI) is $41, while the stock was trading at around $29 as of December 16.
The stock has a dividend yield of about 10% and a PE ratio of 5.91.
As of the end of the third quarter of 2023, 17 hedge funds had stakes in British American Tobacco PLC (NYSE:BTI). The biggest hedge fund stakeholder of British American Tobacco PLC (NYSE:BTI) was William B. Gray’s Orbis Investment Management which owns a $211 million stake in British American Tobacco PLC (NYSE:BTI).
1. Vodafone Group Plc (NASDAQ:VOD)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 22
Vodafone Group Plc (NASDAQ:VOD) ranks first in our list of the best extreme dividend stocks with upside potential. The stock has a dividend yield of about 11% as of December 16.
A total of 22 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long Vodafone Group Plc (NASDAQ:VOD) as of the end of September 2023.
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