The 10 Best Buffett Dividend Stocks

#3: Sanofi

Industry: Pharmaceuticals
Berkshire Shares: 4.06 million
Yield: 4.1%
YTD Returns: 13%

Another Buffett big pharma player is Sanofi Aventis (NYSE:SNY). This might be a lesser-known health care play to those watching pharmaceutical stocks, but it has a big dividend totaling 4.1% (based on its volatile annual payday, of course).

SNY paid a regular dividend $1.43 in May for a yield of 3.8% on current shares. That’s a good yield — but it’s worth noting the payday won’t come around again for roughly 10 months, so take that into account.

But the kicker this year was an additional special dividend of $1.48 a share on top of the regular payment. That brings the nominal yield to more than 7% annualized! Although it’s admittedly a stretch to imagine that payout sticking for good, it’s worth noting as a sweetener for long-term investors. But with earnings scheduled to stay above $3 both this year and in fiscal 2013, another such special payout is not out of the question if things go well.