TiVo Corp (TIVO), Mondelez International Inc (MDLZ) & More: Billionaire George Soros’ Top Dividend Picks

Among thousands of publicly-traded stocks, it’s often difficult to come by new investment ideas and it usually requires a rigorous process. However, there’s a source of many interesting investment opportunities: smart money. Hedge funds and other institutional investors employ a lot of resources in identifying the best stocks to invest in and following their investments is hardly something that hasn’t been done, which is why financial media often covers the moves and comments made by great investors like Warren Buffett, George Soros, or Carl Icahn.

Due to  the current regulations, we have access to hedge funds’ portfolios, or at least a part of them. Every quarter, institutional investors with assets worth over $100 million must file a 13F filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission within 45 days of the end of a quarter. These filings provide a glimpse into the long positions of smart money investors and even though some say they are unreliable, they in fact can provide a trove of information. The key is not to just simply piggyback hedge funds’ moves disclosed via 13F filings, but to carefully choose which funds to follow and which stocks to focus on for best performance.

This is where our research comes in handy. We have selected a list of some 650 hedge funds and institutional investors, whose portfolios provide a lot of investing ideas. After every round of 13F filings, we analyze these funds’ collective sentiment towards thousands of stocks, and, based on this data, we select a bunch of stocks that we share with our premium subscribers. This approach has generated a return of over 67% since May 2014, when the strategy was launched, and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by around 25 percentage points. You can read more details about our strategy and download a free sample of our premium newsletter here.

In addition to looking at collective data from 13F filings, we can also select individual investors and identify some interesting stock picks from their portfolios. In this article, we are going to look closer at billionaire George Soros, who, aside from being the favorite boogeyman of nationalists and dictators, is actually one of the most successful and richest investors in the world. Even though, George Soros retired from managing investment funds in 2011, after registering average annual returns of 20% since founding Soros Fund Management in 1969, he still plays a role in the firm’s life as its chairman.

In its latest 13F filing, Soros Fund Management revealed an equity portfolio worth $4.20 billion as of the end of September, down from $5.62 billion a quarter earlier. During the third quarter, the fund closed its stakes in 86 stocks, including Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP) and Williams Companies Inc (NYSE:WMB). It also initiated 112 new positions in companies like Campbell Soup Company (NYSE:CPB), Solaredge Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:SEDG), and GrubHub Inc (NYSE:GRUB).

Having said that, let’s take a closer look at the top five dividend stocks from Soros Fund Management’s equity portfolio.

During the third quarter, Soros Fund Management inched up its stake in TiVo Corp (NASDAQ:TIVO) by 4% to 5.14 million shares worth $102 million. The stake, which represents slightly over 6% of the company, is 11th largest in terms of value in the fund’s equity portfolio. TiVo Corp (NASDAQ:TIVO)’s shares have lost over 23% since the beginning of the year and currently have a dividend yield of 4.50%. TiVo has recently won a rulling by the International Trade Commission that said Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) had violated two of TiVo Corp (NASDAQ:TIVO)’s patents. The ITC also issued an exclusion order banning Comcast from importing and selling set-top boxes that infringed on the patents of Rovi (Rovi acquired TiVo in 2016 and changed its name).

Following the ruling, analysts at B. Riley issued a note saying that despite the victory, there is still short-term uncertainty regarding the patent case, as the case is still on trial at the US District Court, but Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) should be more inclined to settle the case and sign a license deal. B. Riley has cut its price target on TiVo Corp (NASDAQ:TIVO) to $24 from $31, but maintained a ‘Buy’ rating.

Among the funds in our database, the number of investors bullish on TiVo Corp (NASDAQ:TIVO) remained unchanged at 17 between July and September.

Then there’s Mondelez International Inc (NASDAQ:MDLZ), whose stock carries a dividend yield of 2.06%. Soros Fund Management disclosed a $71.16 million position in the company containing 1.75 million shares, up by 30% over the quarter. At the same time, the number of investors tracked by us that hold shares of Mondelez International Inc (NASDAQ:MDLZ) declined by eight to 57.

The maker of some of the most popular snack brands in the world, like Oreo, Toblerone, and Trident, has seen its stock decline by 3.80% since the beginning of the year. The company operates in a mature market and faces a lot of competition from the likes of PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP) and Hershey Co (NYSE:HSY). However, while the snack food market is large and cannot be disrupted it is still changing as consumers’ tastes transform and are moving towards healthier products. Mondelez International Inc (NASDAQ:MDLZ) committed itself to focus more on healthy snacks back in 2015.

In addition, Mondelez  International Inc (NASDAQ:MDLZ) has been improving its financial position by expanding its operating margins, which reached 16.9% in the third quarter, up from 12% in 2012. One of the largest shareholders of Mondelez, billionaire Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management, also pointed out improved margins in its third-quarter letter to investors. In addition, Pershing Square believes that Mondelez International Inc (NASDAQ:MDLZ) is undervalued “given its high business quality, long-term secular growth potential – especially in emerging markets – and substantial opportunity to improve profit margins.” Pershing estimates that Mondelez’s stock is trading at 17 times its 2018 earnings estimate, “a discount to the S&P 500 market multiple, for a business whose attributes are substantially better than the average company in the S&P 500.”

On the next page, we will take a look at other three dividend stocks from Soros Fund Management’s 13F portfolio.

In Kraft Heinz Co (NASDAQ:KHC), Soros’ fund also raised its stake by 48% to 684,733 shares worth $53.10 million. Kraft Heinz Co (NASDAQ:KHC)’s stock sports a dividend of 3.19%, which is one of the largest among major food producers. The company is considered among the best for dividend investors as it has a long history, great synergies that emerged from the 2015 merger of Kraft and Heinz and the management is committed to provide investors with a stable dividend growth. It owns a large portfolio of brands, including eight core brands with sales of at least $1.0 billion, such as Kraft, Heinz, Oscar Mayer, and Philadelphia. Even though, the company saw a slight decline in sales in 2016 and in the first two quarters of 2017, Kraft Heinz Co (NASDAQ:KHC) saw its earnings grow, as improved margins offset the decline in sales. At the end of September, 54 funds in our database held roughly 29% of Kraft Heinz Co (NASDAQ:KHC)’s outstanding stock.

Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL), which has a dividend yield of 2.18%, saw Soros Fund Management acquire 291,500 shares during the third quarter. In this way, the fund held 431,500 shares worth $31.44 million at the end of September. Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL) is a dividend king, a part of a elite group of 23 companies that have increased their dividends for at least 50 consecutive years. Earlier this year, Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL)’s CEO Ian Cook suggested that he would accept a hypothetical buyout offer at $100 per share, which sparked discussions over the course of the following months regarding the potential buyer, with Unilever plc (ADR) (NYSE:UL), Kraft Heinz Co (NASDAQ:KHC), and Procter & Gamble Co (NYSE:PG) pitched potential suitors. Among the investors tracked by Insider Monkey, the number of funds long Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL) inched down by one to 49 during the third quarter.

Last but not least, Soros Fund Management boosted its exposure to Crown Castle International Corp. (REIT) (NYSE:CCI) by 184,200 shares to 278,600 shares valued at $27.85 million. The operator of cell towers converted to a real estate investment trust in 2014 and the switch allowed it to distribute at least 90% of income as dividends; its dividend yield currently stands at 3.84%. Crown Castle International Corp. (REIT) (NYSE:CCI) is enjoying a strong demand for mobile data and is investing in additional infrastructure to improve the coverage of 4G networks. In addition, the company is preparing for the roll-out of 5G, which won’t require cell towers, but instead will rely on small cells. In July, Crown Castle International Corp. (REIT) (NYSE:CCI) completed the $7.1 billion acquisition of Lightower, which provided it with 32,000 miles of fiber, expanding its footprint to over 60,000 miles. The company argued that the acquisition allows it to improve the ability to deploy small cell sites for 5G networks. There were 34 funds in our database long Crown Castle International Corp. (REIT) (NYSE:CCI) at the end of September, compared to 35 funds a quarter earlier.

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