In this article, we will discuss the top dividend stocks to buy according to billionaire Ray Dalio. If you want to read our detailed analysis of Dalio’s investment strategy and his hedge fund’s performance in the past, go directly to read Billionaire Ray Dalio’s Top 10 Dividend Stocks.
5. Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST)
Bridgewater Associates’ Stake Value: $566,509,000
Dividend Yield as of November 16: 0.68%
Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) is a Washington-based retail company. The company has been raising its dividends consistently for the past 18 years, which makes it one of the top dividend stocks on our list. It currently pays a quarterly dividend of $0.90 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.68%, as recorded on November 16.
At the end of Q3 2022, Bridgewater Associates owned nearly 2 million shares in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST), worth over $566.5 million. The company constituted 2.86% of billionaire Ray Dalio’s portfolio.
In October, Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) to $525 with an Overweight rating on the shares, appreciating the company’s market share gains and unit growth.
As of the close of Q2 2022, 64 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey owned stakes in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST), up from 61 in the preceding quarter. These stakes are collectively valued at over $4.76 billion. With stakes over $2 billion, Fisher Asset Management owned the largest position in the company in Q2.
Cooper Investors mentioned Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) in its Q3 2022 investor letter. Here is what the firm has to say:
“The US economy continues to run hot – the labour market is extremely tight and a number of executives we spoke to described their challenges in retaining staff and preventing competitors from poaching talent. Industrial companies in particular continue to see record backlogs, with the easing of logistics and supply chain constraints only just starting to have an impact on deliveries and lead times.
In terms of inflationary pressures, the vast majority of our holdings have been able to leverage strong market positions and stakeholder relationships to push pricing through in 2022 such that minimal impact to earnings has occurred. Clearly this is not a lever than can be pulled indefinitely but the more experienced management teams have kept some of their powder dry. Our meeting with management at Costco in Seattle was memorable for several reasons but one was their latent ability to increase member pricing which they have not done in over 5 years (and thus likely to do in 2023)…
…To conclude we’ll return to our meeting with Costco mentioned earlier. The business quality is no secret after decades of incredible execution, but the meeting gave us renewed conviction around Value Latencies in terms of the runway for growth, the focus on enhancing customer value, Costco’s vast buying power (it purchases 30% of the world’s jumbo cashews as one example) and management’s feral focus on the business model and cost discipline.”
