As the second half of the year progresses, many investors will reposition themselves to better diversify their investments to mitigate risk. Some investors prefer to take positions in stocks purchased by hedge funds because large institutional ownership can increase demand for stocks.
Whether you follow your favorite hedge fund manager or activist investor, finding out a stock’s top owners can be worthwhile. For example, the two largest hedge fund shareholders are Wells Fargo Eagle Capital Management and Pzena Investment Managerwhich equates to a value of $709 million, or $666 million per hedge follow.
While Merck & Co’s two largest shareholders are hedge funds Barrow Hanley Mewhinney Strauss Holdings and Renaissance Technologieswith a combined value of $996 million and $617 million, respectively. These two dividend stocks are hedge fund favorites as we move into the second half of the year.
Wells Fargo & Co. WFC offers a dividend yield of 2.76%, or $1.20 per share annually, makes quarterly payments, and has a decent track record of growing its dividends for two years. Wells Fargo is one of the largest banks in the United States with total assets of approximately $1.9 trillion (as of 2021).
In the second quarter of 2022, Wells Fargo had $944 billion in loans at the end of the period, up 11% from the second quarter of the prior year and up 4% from the first quarter of 2022.
“Looking ahead, our results should continue to benefit from the rising interest rate environment, with net interest income growth expected to more than offset any further near-term pressure on noninterest income. We expect credit losses to increase from these incredibly low levels, but we have yet to see any meaningful deterioration in our consumer or business portfolios,” the chief executive officer said Charlie Sharp.
