Billionaire Bill Gates is the world’s richest man, with a net worth of $86 billion, as estimated by Forbes. After having co-founded Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which later became the world’s largest software company, Bill Gates has considerably expanded his fortune not only through ownership of Microsoft stock, but also through investing. Bill Gates doesn’t reveal his portfolio of investments, but we can get an idea about his holdings by looking at the 13D and 13G filings of his investment arm, Cascade Investment, as well as by looking at the 13F filings reported by his charity, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust.
When it comes to billionaires, we mere mortals always want to take a peek and get a glimpse into their lives, lifestyles, and routines that helped them develop the skills and discipline that led to their success and wealth. To that end, be sure to check out our list of 20 surprising facts about Bill Gates’ House.
When it comes to investing, a fact that is often overlooked is that Bill Gates is not solely responsible for his portfolio. In fact, he only takes care of his investments in technology and biotech, which are not even held by Cascade Investment, so little-to-nothing is known about them. The bulk of Bill Gates’ portfolio is handled by Michael Larson, who also manages the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust. Larson is responsible for Gates’ investments in property and non-technology stocks and has been running Cascade since 1994. Due to the secretive nature of the asset management firm (Cascade does not label itself as a family office), we can only get a slight idea about its returns from various articles in the media. Between 1995 and 2015, Cascade has reportedly had a compound annual return of 11%, while during the financial crisis, its losses were smaller than those of the broader market.
At Insider Monkey, we follow hundreds of investors like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust. By analyzing their filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, we can identify the stocks that these investors are collectively bullish on. We then share those stocks with our premium subscribers as part of our flagship strategy, which has returned over 44% since February 2016.
Even though there is not much information about Larson’s investment principles, judging by the publicly disclosed filings, he has a rather conservative approach and prefers to hold positions in a relatively small number of stocks for long periods of time. According to the 13F filings of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust, out of 18 positions held at the end of March, more than half have been included in the Trust’s portfolio for over a decade. It’s also worth mentioning that several of the Trust’s long-term holdings have solid dividend yields.
With this in mind, let’s take a look at five dividend stocks that are held by Bill Gates via the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust, beginning on the next page.
