Billionaire Warren Buffett’s Top Dividend-Paying Stock Picks

In the tech space, Berkshire’s top bet is represented by International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM), in which the fund owns 81.23 million shares worth $12.30 billion. International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM)’s stock has lost 15% over the last 52 weeks as the company is still facing challenges in software and services business and is transitioning its focus towards cloud computing. This week, the company laid off some employees as part of a transition process, which could eliminate 14,000 jobs, according to a Stanford Bernstein estimate. Nevertheless, the decline has pushed International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM)’s dividend yield to 3.80% based on the $1.40 quarterly dividend the company pays. Overall, 53 funds from our database held shares of IBM at the end of March.

In Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX), Berkshire increased its position by 22% on the quarter to 75.55 million shares worth $6.54 billion. Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) currently pays a dividend of $0.63 per quarter and its stock has a yield of 3.32%. The decline in oil prices affected refiners the least and many chose to seek refuge in refining stocks during the slump in oil prices, however, the mild winter affected the demand of some types of fuels, which led to many refiners miss their estimates in the last financial results, according to reports. Phillips 66 posted EPS of $0.67, missing the estimates by $0.20. Nevertheless, Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) also has a strong chemicals business and it has raised its dividend by 12.5% earlier this month. Berkshire is the top shareholder of Phillips 66, followed by David Cohen and Harold Levy’s Iridian Asset Management, which held 3.93 million shares at the end of the first quarter.

Finally, General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) represented Berkshire’s 14th largest position, which contained 50 million shares worth $1.57 billion. However, General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) has the highest dividend yield among the stocks in this article, which amounts to 4.97%, based on the $0.38 quarterly dividend. General Motors posted better-than-expected financial results for the first quarter, with EPS of $1.26 and revenue of $37.30 billion, compared to estimates of $1.01 and $35.75 billion, respectively. Nevertheless, the stock has lost 10% year-to-date and is trading at just 5.1 times forward earnings, which makes the stock extremely cheap, but investors are worried regarding General Motors Company (NYSE:GM)’s high amount of debt and its dependency on the US market, which will be affected when the Fed raises interest rates. With ownership of 15.30 million shares, billionaire David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital is another top shareholder of General Motors.

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