3 Top-Rated Warren Buffett Dividend Stocks

Warren Buffett is maybe the greatest investor of all time and while he does occasionally make changes to his portfolio his ideal holding period is “forever.” Dividends play a big part in the returns for his Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) holding company. Below are three top-rated dividend stocks he currently owns in his portfolio, according to Wall Street analysts tracked by StreetInsider.com.

1. Mondelez (NASDAQ: MDLZ): The Oreo-cookie maker is the top-rated dividend stock owned by Buffett's Berkshire coming in with an 8.5 analyst rating score (out of 10). Mondelez pays a $0.35 quarterly dividend or $1.40 annually. The annual yield on the dividend is 2.4% based on the current price. The dividend was last raised 11% in July 2021. Mondelez is not a large holding of Berkshire at just 578,000 shares, which has been maintained at that level since the second quarter of 2013. Mondelez is Buy-rated at Goldman Sachs, among others. Goldman analyst Jason English said the company has been successful in driving a sustainable top-line acceleration.

2. Mastercard (NYSE: MA): Buffett's Berkshire owns about 4.6 million shares of Mastercard, which has an analyst rating score of 8.4. Mastercard is not a high-yielding dividend stock at just 0.5%, however, the dividend is being raised each year. The next dividend hike is expected to be announced in December 2021. The hike might get the quarterly dividend to around $0.50 per share, versus the current quarterly dividend of $0.44, or $1.76 annually. Shares have been weaker recently on spending concerns related to the Delta variant and that Amazon is entering the BNPL space through a partnership with Affirm. BofA Securities analyst Jason Kupferberg highlights that 80-90% of BNPL installments are paid via a debit card, so V/MA benefit from these incremental transactions. Mastercard also recently announced the launch of “Mastercard Installments” - its own version of the popular Buy Now, Pay Later program.

3. Visa (NYSE: V): Visa has an analyst rating score of 8.1. Buffett's Berkshire owns about 10 million shares of Visa. Like Mastercard, Visa has a low yield of just 0.6%. Visa pays a $0.32, quarterly dividend or $1.28 annualized. The company has been consistently raising its dividend but not above 1%. Like Mastercard, Visa stock has been weaker recently on spending concerns related to the Delta variant and that Amazon is entering the BNPL space through a partnership with Affirm. Again BofA Securities analyst Jason Kupferberg is not worried, noting that 80-90% of BNPL installments are paid via a debit card, helping Visa. Moreover, Kupferberg recently commented that the return of cross-border travel will benefit the company. In the BNPL space, Visa has entered the sector with its own offering.

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