The Best Warren Buffett Dividend Stocks

The best Warren Buffett dividend stocks are expected to produce impressive returns for the Berkshire Hathaway equity portfolio.

Warren Buffett
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Warren Buffett loves dividend stocks. He always has, even though Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) has never paid a dividend. But more than half of the stocks in the holding company's roughly $260 billion equity portfolio do. And the best Warren Buffett dividend stocks produce substantial income for the Oracle of Omaha.

In 2024, Berkshire Hathaway received $5.2 billion in dividend income, down from $5.5 billion in 2023 and $6.0 billion in 2022 as it sold more of its equity holdings and moved proceeds to U.S. Treasuries.

Dividend stocks can generate impressive total returns (price change plus dividends) for investors over the long term.

"That's because regular dividend increases lift the yield on an investor's original cost basis," writes Dan Burrows, senior investing writer at Kiplinger.com, in his story highlighting Wall Street's best dividend stocks.

"Stick around long enough, and the modest yield you received on your initial investment can hit double digits one day," Burrows writes. That's certainly been the case with Berkshire Hathaway.

Over the last three years, BRK.B has averaged an annual total return of 19.3% vs 12.8% for the S&P 500.

What Buffett has to say about dividend stocks 

Here's what Buffett had to say about dividends in his 2020 letter to shareholders: "BNSF has paid substantial dividends to Berkshire – $41.8 billion in total. The railroad pays us, however, only what remains after it both fulfills the needs of its business and maintains a cash balance of about $2 billion.

"This conservative policy allows BNSF to borrow at low rates," Buffett explained, "independent of any guarantee of its debt by Berkshire." And that's an internally owned business.

Berkshire's dividend-paying stocks generated more than $5.2 billion in dividend income in 2024, with a significant amount from its top five holdings.

How we chose the best Buffett dividend stocks

The list includes only those stocks held by Berkshire that yield as much or more than the S&P 500's current 1.3% yield. This is why I did not include Apple (AAPL), which currently yields 0.5%.

All the names featured here have attractive dividend yields. They're supported by solid fundamentals. And they've generated impressive income streams for Berkshire Hathaway.

With that in mind, here are five of the best Warren Buffett dividend stocks.

Data is as of May 15. Dividend yields are calculated by annualizing the most recent payout and dividing by the share price. Berkshire Hathaway portfolio data is provided by WhaleWisdom.com.

Will Ashworth
Contributing Writer, Kiplinger.com

Will has written professionally for investment and finance publications in both the U.S. and Canada since 2004. A native of Toronto, Canada, his sole objective is to help people become better and more informed investors. Fascinated by how companies make money, he's a keen student of business history. Married and now living in Halifax, Nova Scotia, he's also got an interest in equity and debt crowdfunding.