Billionaire David Tepper Loves These Dividend Stocks Right Now

Williams Partners LP (NYSE:WPZ) is another energy infrastructure Masters Limited Partnership that is a favorite of David Tepper. His hedge fund held $366 million of this stock at the end of the third quarter making it the 4^th largest holding. Williams Partners LP (NYSE:WPZ) has a business somewhat similar to that of Energy Transfer Partners LP (NYSE:ETP) and operates in natural gas gathering part of the supply chain. The stock has given a very good return of 24% to investors over the past one year and its future looks bright under the Trump administration.  The company has given a dividend of 85 cents per share during the third quarter, which means a handsome annualized dividend yield of more than 9%. Though the company reported a loss during the second quarter, analysts expect the company to report an overall profit of 97 cents for the full year 2016. The number of hedge funds from our system, having this stock in their portfolio declined to 11 during the third quarter from 13 in the quarter earlier. The value of their holdings also came down to $478 million from $495.6 million quarter over quarter.

TerraForm Power Inc. (NASDAQ:TERP) is a solar yieldco that was started by the now bankrupt solar developer SunEdison. The main function of the company was to invest in developed solar assets and to give a high dividend yield to its investors from the cashflows generated from selling electricity to utilities. However, this whole yieldco model has come under pressure in recent times with the solar industry facing a strong down cycle. Appaloosa Management did not change its position in this stock during the third quarter, maintaining its ownership of 8.7 million shares. The company gives a high dividend yield of more than 10% and its fortunes may change under a new owner. D.E. Shaw was said to be looking at buying this company and had put a non-binding bid in October. Other organizations such as GCL Poly and BlackRock Inc (NYSE:BLK) are also looking to put bids for this company which owns more than 1300 MW of solar and wind assets. Almost 20% of the company’s float as at September 30th was held by 20 hedge funds from our database.

Atlantica Yield PLC (NASDAQ:ABY) is another dividend stock in which Appaloosa Management has a position. Though it reduced its position slightly in the third quarter by selling 288,594 shares, the fund still holds more than 6 million shares valued at $114 million of this utility. This diversified utility holds a number of power generation, transmission and water assets in Norther America. It recently gave a quarterly dividend of 16 cents per share and has a current dividend yield of 3.56%. The company was earlier known as Abengoa Yield, but after the bankruptcy of its main sponsor, it changed its name. Out of the 6 analysts covering this stock, 4 have rated it as a hold while 2 have rated it as a buy. As per our records, 13 hedge funds held shares worth $385 million during the third quarter up from 12 funds holding $367.8 million being held during the second quarter.

Western Digital Corp (NASDAQ:WDC) is a technology company in which David Tepper’s fund holds a substantial stake. Though Appaloosa Management reduced its total holdings of this stock by 20% in the third quarter, it still holds $67 million worth of this company’s stock. Western Digital Corp (NASDAQ:WDC) forms a duopoly with Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ:STX) in the global hard disk drive market. The company is also diversifying into new storage technology such as flash drives. The stock which is trading near its 52 week high price announced a quarterly dividend of 50 cents per share. The company has more than doubled its dividends over the past 4 years, rewarding its investors. Its current dividend yield of 3.3% and its leading position in the storage industry has made it an attractive stock for investors. According to our database, the number of funds long in this stock increased to 51 during the third quarter from 48 in the quarter earlier. The value of their holdings also appreciated by 8% to $1.1 billion quarter over quarter.

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