Billionaires Love These 5 Dividend Aristocrats

#3 Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD)

– Billionaires with Long Positions (as of December 31): 12

– Value of Billionaires’ Holdings (as of December 31): $4.71 billion

While Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD)’s stock and its ownership among billionaire investors remained flat during the fourth quarter, the aggregate value of their holdings in it had a marginal decline of 3.2%. Due to its cost-cutting efforts and improved pricing Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) was able to deliver an earnings beat for its first quarter of fiscal year 2016 in late-January, following which its stock has appreciated by over 12% and now trades up by over 3% year-to-date. Whereas the Street was expecting it to report EPS of $1.71 on revenue of $2.45 billion for the quarter, Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. declared EPS of $1.78 on revenue of $2.36 billion. The company has been hiking its dividend payments consistently for the past 38 years and its shares currently sport an annual dividend yield of 2.41%. Billionaire Andreas Halvorsen‘s Viking Global reduced its stake in Air Products & Chemicals by 9% to 5.38 million shares during the fourth quarter.

#2 McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD)

– Billionaires with Long Positions (as of December 31): 14

– Value of Billionaires’ Holdings (as of December 31): $2.1 billion

Amid an over 20% rise in McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD)’s stock during the fourth quarter, billionaire investors in our system with long positions in the stock increased by five. However, the aggregate value of their holdings in the company during the same period declined by $157 million. This year, shares of McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) spiked after the company reported its fourth quarter numbers, but gave up those gains pretty quickly and now trade flat year-to-date. Nevertheless, the $0.89 per share quarterly dividend that the company pays currently translates into an attractive annual dividend yield of over 3%. Since McDonald’s Corporation’s stock is currently trading at a forward P/E of almost 20, which is considerably above its historical forward P/E, some analysts are concerned that it has become overvalued and will begin to make a downward move soon. Their argument received a major boost recently when short interest in the company rose to a 10-year high of 33.7 million shares. D.E. Shaw, founded by billionaire David E. Shaw, increased its stake in McDonald’s Corporation by 26% to almost 1.45 million shares during the fourth quarter.

#1 Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA)

– Billionaires with Long Positions (as of December 31): 15

– Value of Billionaires’ Holdings (as of December 31): $4.14 billion

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) emerged as hedge funds’ favorite dividend aristocrat at the end of 2015. The company currently pays a quarterly dividend of $0.36 per share, which translates into a respectable annual dividend yield of 1.8%. During the fourth quarter, the ownership of Walgreens Boots Alliance among billionaire investors covered by us inched up by one, though the aggregate value of their holdings in it saw a fall of over 27%. The announcement by the company last October that it will be acquiring Rite Aid Corporation (NYSE:RAD) in a $17.4 billion deal could be one of the main reasons behind Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) seeing an increase in its popularity among billionaire investors during the fourth quarter. Though Rite Aid Corporation (NYSE:RAD)’s shareholders approved the acquisition last month, some analysts are still not convinced that the deal will be completed due to the regulatory hurdles it faces. On March 1, analysts at Mizuho upgraded Walgreens Boots to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ and also increased their price target on it to $90 from $89. Billionaire John Griffin‘s Blue Ridge Capital cut its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by one-fourth to 2.48 million shares during the fourth quarter.

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