3 Ultra-Reliable Dividend-Paying Warren Buffett Stocks to Buy for the Second Half of 2025

Warren Buffett built Berkshire Hathaway into the most valuable non-tech-focused U.S. company by market cap. So naturally, investors closely follow Buffett’s moves when it comes to investing in public stocks.

Apple (AAPL 0.81%), Coca-Cola (KO -0.77%), and Chevron (CVX 0.08%) are all top-five holdings in Berkshire’s public equity portfolio. Here’s why these three dividend stocks are worth loading up on now.

Think long-term with Apple

Berkshire Hathaway has trimmed its Apple position considerably — reducing its stake in the tech giant by 67% between Q4 2023 and Q3 2024. The decision didn’t look great last year, as Apple gained a whopping 30.1%. But Apple has been one of the worst-performing stocks in the S&P 500 this year, with the recently stock down 21.6% this year.

The core reason for Apple’s underperformance stems from weak earnings growth and a lack of investor enthusiasm for future growth. Apple just released a slew of product upgrades and software announcements at its Worldwide Developers Conference. And yet, the stock sold off anyway as investors may not have gotten the artificial intelligence (AI) upgrades they hoped for.

While it’s easy to be critical that Apple has been lagging behind its tech peers when it comes to AI innovation, there’s also a fair argument that Apple is playing its hand well. Apple’s bread and butter is making technologically powerful products that are easy to use.

Apple has historically gotten a ton of criticism when it releases a new product that some fear may not catch on. For years, there was doubt about the long-term growth of wearables. Or the functionality of the iPad compared to the Mac. But here it is 2025, and Apple Watch and iPad continue to be core products in the Apple ecosystem.

Apple has also been purposeful with design changes to the iPhone. Apple’s decision to remove the home button from the iPhone in 2017 was met with mixed responses. But in hindsight, it was the right move to achieve a sleeker design and easier toggling between applications. I think Apple will take a similar approach with its AI endeavors by trying to make AI updates truly useful for the majority of users rather than releasing snazzy widgets that are intrusive or clunky.

In sum, Apple has an impeccable track record of making technology or design jumps that resonate with its customers. Folks who believe it can continue doing that are getting the chance to buy the stock at a heavily discounted price to where it was less than six months ago.

Coca-Cola is in a league of its own

Coca-Cola is down less than 4% from its all-time high and up a solid 14.1% year to date as of June 14. It has been a standout winner among its consumer staples and food and beverage peer group. For context, Coke’s peer, PepsiCo, is hovering around multiyear lows. Packaged food company J.M. Smucker is treading water around its lowest level in a decade.

To be fair, Coke has experienced slowing sales and volume growth in recent years due to cost pressures, weakening consumer spending, and now tariff tensions. But despite these challenges, Coke is still growing — and that trait separates it from the pack.

Coke’s two greatest differentiating factors are its structure and its capital allocation.

Coke benefits from a relatively capital-light model where it owns its consumer brands and marketing initiatives, but it works with bottling partners that manufacture, package, merchandise, and distribute the final product to vending partners. It’s a somewhat similar business model to Apple, which designs but doesn’t manufacture its products. Another example is Nvidia, which contracts with companies like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing to make its chips.

This kind of business model is especially powerful during periods of trade tensions and geopolitical uncertainty because Coca-Cola isn’t left with a large, bulky, and fixed cost structure. Rather, it can work with its partners to manage costs.

Coke’s capital allocation is another competitive advantage. The company has done a masterful job leveraging different flavors of existing brands, like Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, as well as acquiring and developing non-soda brands like sparkling water Topo Chico and lactose-free and protein-rich milk substitute Fairlife.

Coke has a business model that is built to last and can support its dividend, which has been increased for 63 consecutive years and yields 2.9%. Coke has a much more expensive valuation than some of its peers, but it could still be a quality stock to buy for risk-averse investors.

Chevron has a long runway for sustained dividend growth

Chevron stock popped recently in lockstep with the broader energy sector due to rising tensions in the Middle East. But the stock remains a compelling value for long-term investors.

Chevron has found several ways to reduce its cost of production, which gives the company a valuable margin of error. It can turn a profit without having to rely on high oil and gas prices. Some of these improvements are merely structural in nature, but others come from savvy acquisitions, technological advancements, and focusing on high-quality geological formations that make it easier to drill and complete wells.

In its first-quarter 2025 earnings statement, Chevron announced a simplified organizational structure that it expects will reduce structural costs by $2 billion to $3 billion by the end of 2026. Chevron has an upstream breakeven around just $30 per barrel Brent, according to Wood Mackenzie data — which allows it to produce steady earnings even at lower oil prices. Chevron has drastically lowered its development costs by improving facility designs and standardizing construction.

Chevron is a top-tier integrated oil major due to its diversified and highly profitable upstream portfolio, downstream business, and low-carbon investments. However, the company’s dedication to its dividend makes the stock especially appealing for income investors.

Chevron has paid and raised its dividend for 38 consecutive years and yields a whopping 4.7%. Despite the high yield, it still generates plenty of extra cash to maintain a healthy balance sheet and consistently repurchase stock.

All told, Chevron has the makings of a foundational high-yield dividend stock to buy for boosting your passive income stream.