Warren Buffett’s 7 High Dividend Stock Picks For Income Investors

BERKSHIRE HATHAWAYWarren Buffett is one of the greatest investors of all time. He explained in 2006 that one of the best ways of staying wealthy is investing in high dividend stocks with stable businesses, like utilities. We believe buying the highest dividend stocks of Buffett’s portfolio is a good idea because they are the stable ones and delivering good income.

Buffett has been holding on to his positions for years if not decades to minimize taxes. We recommend investors follow a similar strategy in order to protect their investments and grow their portfolio at modest rates. This is a better alternative to investing in long-term government bonds which yield around 2%.

Here are Warren Buffett’s highest dividend stock picks. All stocks in this list have dividend yield of above 3.4%. See complete list of Buffett’s holdings here. We obtained market data from Finviz and Morningstar, and hedge fund holdings from Insider Monkey.

Stock Market Cap
(Billion $)
Sector Dividend Yield P/E Beta
Gannett Co (GCI) 3.5 Services 5.4% 8.2 2.45
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 115.5 Healthcare 4.9% 14.8 0.63
ConocoPhillips (COP) 70.8 Basic Materials 4.7% 6.1 1.14
Sanofi (SNY) 100.8 Healthcare 4.4% 13.1 0.9
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) 188.5 Healthcare 3.6% 18.9 0.55
Procter & Gamble (PG) 177.4 Consumer Goods 3.5% 20.2 0.43
General Electric (GE) 210.5 Industrial Goods 3.4% 16.3 1.61

Gannett Inc (NYSE:GCI) : GCI recently traded at $14.81 with a trailing price to earnings of 8.23 and a forward price to earnings of 6.86. GCI recently posted Q2 earning per share of 56 cents, which beat estimates by 3 cents, though overall revenue of $1.31 billion was in-line with estimates and down more than 2 percent over the same period a year ago. GCI has a 5.4% dividend yield and gained 12.45% during the past 12 months. The stock has a market cap of $3.5 billion and Total Debt/Equity Ratio of 0.71. GCI has an estimated growth rate of -0.92% for this year and 6.08% for next five years. Buffett had $27 million invested in GCI shares.

Glaxosmithkline Plc (NYSE:GSK): GSK recently traded at $46.26 with a trailing price to earnings of 14.83 and a forward price to earnings of 9.66. Recently, GSK has bought Human Genome Sciences (HGSI) for $3. billion, or $14.25 per share, with the net value listed a $3 billion minus cash and debt. GSK has a 4.92% dividend yield and gained 11.31% during the past 12 months. The stock has a market cap of $115.5 billion and Total Debt/Equity Ratio of 1.68. GSK has an estimated growth rate of 8.62% for this year and 5.63% for next five years. Buffett had $68 million invested in GSK shares.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP): COP recently traded at $55.99 with a trailing price to earnings of 6.12 and a forward price to earnings of 8.75. COP has a 4.72% dividend yield and lost 0.02% during the past 12 months. The stock has a market cap of $70.8 billion and Total Debt/Equity Ratio of 0.43. COP has an estimated growth rate of 7.2% for this year and 2.34% for next five years. Buffett had $2.2 billion invested in COP shares.

Sanofi (NYSE:SNY): SNY recently traded at $38.08 with a trailing price to earnings of 13.13 and a forward price to earnings of 9.79. SNY has a 4.44% dividend yield and gained 0.58% during the past 12 months. The stock has a market cap of $100.8 billion and Total Debt/Equity Ratio of 0. SNY has an estimated growth rate of -0.26% for this year and 1.37% for next five years. Buffett had $157 million invested in SNY shares.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ): JNJ recently traded at $68.63 with a trailing price to earnings of 18.85 and a forward price to earnings of 12.46. JNJ has a 3.56% dividend yield and gained 7.1% during the past 12 months. The stock has a market cap of $188.5 billion and Total Debt/Equity Ratio of 0.32. JNJ has an estimated growth rate of 7.2% for this year and 6.61% for next five years. Buffett had $1.9 billion invested in JNJ shares.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG): PG recently traded at $64.73 with a trailing price to earnings of 20.17 and a forward price to earnings of 16.55. PG has a 3.47% dividend yield and gained 3.75% during the past 12 months. The stock has a market cap of $177.4 billion and Total Debt/Equity Ratio of 0.51. PG has an estimated growth rate of 2.62% for this year and 7.27% for next five years. Buffett had $4.9 billion invested in PG shares.

General Electric (NYSE:GE): GE recently traded at $19.87 with a trailing price to earnings of 16.29 and a forward price to earnings of 11.49. GE has a 3.42% dividend yield and gained 7.58% during the past 12 months. The stock has a market cap of $210.5 billion and Total Debt/Equity Ratio of 3.69. GE has an estimated growth rate of 12.34% for this year and 12.4% for next five years. Buffett had $156 million invested in GE shares.