As Warren Buffett Waves Goodbye, 5 Dividend Stocks That Never Leave Berkshire Hathaway

If any investor has stood the test of time, it is Warren Buffett, and with good reason. For over half a century, the Oracle of Omaha has had a rock-star-like presence in the investing world, and his annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting draws thousands of loyal fans who are investors. They were stunned at this year’s meeting when Buffett announced that he would be stepping down as CEO of the investment giant at the end of the year. While he will remain the board chair and continue to have a voice in the day-to-day operations, his pre-announced successor, Greg Abel, will assume the chief executive position at the end of the year. As 2025 winds down, Buffett will step away, making far fewer appearances, and will not be onstage at the next shareholder meeting. Abel will take the stage for the next meeting and write the annual shareholder letter.

Long-time investors and Buffett mavens are familiar with this quote: “His favorite holding for an S&P 500 stock is forever.” So it is not surprising to report that for all of the success and stature Berkshire Hathaway has in the investment world, five top companies make up over 70% of its total holdings. While much more concentrated than most portfolio managers would ever consider, the strategy has worked for Berkshire Hathaway investors for years. It is likely to continue doing so in the future. The question many would ask, given his impending departure, is what dividend stocks are likely to remain in the portfolio for the long term? We screened the portfolio, and these longtime stalwarts, which all pay dividends, are likely to stay at the dance for decades to come.

Why do we cover Warren Buffett’s stocks?

Few investors have the results and reputation that Buffett has garnered over the past 50 years. While investing has evolved over the past half-century, buying good companies with products and services recognized worldwide, while paying dividends, will always remain a timeless approach.

American Express

American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) is an American bank holding company and multinational financial services corporation specializing in payment cards. This stock has performed strongly in 2025 and offers a dividend yield of 0.88%. American Express is a globally integrated payments company that deals with card-issuing, merchant-acquiring, and card network businesses.

The financial giant posted strong third-quarter earnings per share of $4.14, exceeding analyst expectations of $3.99, representing a 19% year-over-year increase. Revenue grew 11% to $18.43 billion, surpassing the forecast of $18.05 billion, as net income increased 16% to $2.9 billion compared to last year.

The company offers products and services to customers worldwide, including consumers, small businesses, mid-sized companies, and large corporations.

Its segments include:

• U.S. Consumer Services, which offers travel and lifestyle services, as well as banking and non-card financing products.
• Commercial Services offers payment, expense management, banking, and non-card financing products.
• International Card Services provides services to international customers, including travel and lifestyle services, and manages certain international joint ventures and its loyalty coalition business.
• Global Merchant and Network Services operates a payments network that processes and settles card transactions, acquires merchants, and provides multichannel marketing programs, capabilities, services, and data analytics.

Berkshire Hathaway owns 151,610,700 shares, 21.6 % of American Express’s float, and 15.5% of the portfolio.

Wells Fargo has an Overweight rating with a $400 target price.

Apple

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, computer software, and online services, and it offers a small dividend of 0.38%. It is almost hard to comprehend that the legacy technology giant, even after a recent sale of 20 million shares and a surge in sales over the past two years, still makes up a stunning 23.8% of the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio. It holds just under 2% of Apple’s stock. Apple designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories worldwide.

The company offers:

• The iPhone, a line of smartphones
• Mac, a line of personal computers
• iPad, a line of multi-purpose tablets
• Wearables, home, and accessories comprising AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, and HomePod

Apple also offers AppleCare support and cloud services, as well as operates various platforms, including the App Store, which enables customers to discover and download applications and digital content, such as books, music, videos, games, and podcasts.

In addition, the company offers various services, such as:

• Apple Arcade, a game subscription service
• Apple Fitness+, a personalized fitness service
• Apple Music, which gives users a curated listening experience with on-demand radio stations
• Apple News+, a subscription news and magazine service
• Apple TV+, which offers exclusive original content
• Apple Card, a co-branded credit card
• Apple Pay, a cashless payment service

Wells Fargo has an Overweight rating with a $300 target price.

Bank of America

While Buffett has trimmed his position over the past two years, this quality financial giant remains an exceptional long-term holding with a solid 2% dividend yield. Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) is a bank holding company and financial holding company that reported impressive third-quarter results. Both earnings per share (EPS) of $1.06 and revenue of $28.24 billion beat analysts’ estimates. Profit rose 23% from a year earlier to $8.5 billion, and revenue grew 11% year-over-year, with EPS jumping 31%.

Its segments include:

• Consumer Banking offers a range of credit, banking, and investment products and services to consumers and small businesses.
• Global Wealth & Investment Management comprises two businesses: Merrill Wealth Management, which offers tailored solutions to meet clients’ needs through a comprehensive suite of investment management, brokerage, banking, and retirement products. Bank of America Private Bank provides comprehensive wealth management solutions.
• Global Banking offers a range of lending-related products and services, including integrated working capital management and treasury solutions, as well as underwriting and advisory services.
• Global Markets offers sales and trading services, as well as research services, to institutional clients across fixed income, credit, currency, commodity, and equity markets.

Morgan Stanley has an Overweight rating, accompanied by a $70 target price.

Chevron

This American multinational energy company predominantly specializes in oil and gas. Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) is a safer option for investors looking to position themselves in the energy sector, and it pays a substantial 4.42% dividend, which was raised by 5% earlier this year. This integrated giant operates energy and chemicals businesses worldwide through two segments.

The Upstream segment is involved in the following:

• Exploration, development, production, and transportation of crude oil and natural gas
• Processing, liquefaction, transportation, and regasification associated with liquefied natural gas
• Transportation of crude oil through pipelines, and transportation, storage
• Marketing of natural gas, as well as operating a gas-to-liquids plant

The Downstream segment engages in:

• Refining crude oil into petroleum products
• Marketing crude oil, refined products, and lubricants
• Manufacturing and marketing renewable fuels
• Transporting crude oil and refined products by pipeline, marine vessel, motor equipment, and rail car
• Manufacturing and marketing of commodity petrochemicals, plastics for industrial uses, and fuel and lubricant additives

It also involves cash management, debt financing, insurance operations, real estate, and technology businesses.

Chevron announced in late 2023 that it had entered into a definitive agreement with Hess Corp. (NYSE: HES) to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Hess in an all-stock transaction valued at $53 billion, or $171 per share based on Chevron’s closing price on October 20, 2023. Under the terms of the agreement, Hess shareholders will receive 1.0250 shares of Chevron for each Hess share. The transaction’s total enterprise value, including debt, is $60 billion. The Federal Trade Commission has approved the deal, and it is expected to close this fall.

Morgan Stanley has an Overweight rating with a target price of $190.

Coca-Cola

This American multinational corporation, founded in 1892, remains a top long-time holding of Warren Buffett. He owns a massive 400 million Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) shares, which have increased by a solid 11% in 2025 and come with a dependable 2.92% dividend. The world’s largest beverage company offers consumers more than 500 sparkling and still brands.

Led by Coca-Cola, one of the world’s most valuable and recognizable brands, the portfolio features 20 billion-dollar brands, including:

• Diet Coke
• Coca-Cola Light
• Coca-Cola Zero Sugar
• Caffeine-free Diet Coke
• Cherry Coke
• Fanta Orange
• Fanta Zero Orange
• Fanta Zero Sugar
• Fanta Apple
• Sprite
• Sprite Zero Sugar
• Simply Orange
• Simply Apple
• Simply Grapefruit
• Fresca
• Schweppes
• Dasani
• Fuze Tea
• Glacéau Smartwater
• Glacéau Vitaminwater
• Gold Peak
• Ice Dew
• Powerade
• Topo Chico
• Minute Maid

Globally, it is the top provider of sparkling beverages, ready-to-drink coffees, juices, and juice drinks.

Through the world’s most extensive beverage distribution system, consumers in more than 200 countries enjoy the company’s beverages at a rate of over 1.9 billion servings per day. It is also important to remember that the company owns 16% of Monster Beverage Corp. (NASDAQ: MNST), which continues to deliver strong financial results.

Bank of America has a Buy rating and a target price of $80.

Three Warren Buffett Dividend Stocks to Buy Now With Just $1000