Surprise: Warren Buffett Dumps 3 Blue Chip Stocks With Huge Dividends

This company is focused on popular retail outlets and offers a solid entry point. STORE Capital Corp. (NYSE: STOR) is an internally managed net-lease real estate investment trust (REIT) that is the leader in the acquisition, investment and management of single-tenant operational real estate (STORE), which is its target market.

STORE Capital is one of the largest and fastest growing net-lease REITs. Its large, well-diversified portfolio consists of investments in more than 2,500 property locations across the United States, substantially all of which are profit centers.

The company announced earlier this year that it has entered into $600 million of unsecured long-term debt financing. This debt transaction consisted of $400 million five-year and $200 million seven-year floating rate loans.

The loans were effectively converted to a weighted average fixed rate of 3.68% for the term of the loans through the use of interest rate swaps. The company is using the proceeds of the transaction primarily to pay down amounts outstanding on its unsecured revolving credit facility and to prepay, without penalty, $134.5 million of STORE Master Funding Series 2014-1 Class A-2 notes, which bore a coupon rate of 5.0%, resulting in an annual interest expense savings of $1.8 million.

Shareholders receive a 5.42% distribution. The target price at Wells Fargo is $38, while the consensus target is $34.33. The stock closed at $28.38 on Thursday.

U.S. Bancorp

This top superegional bank is among the higher-paying dividend bank stocks and was a very surprising Buffett sell in a rising interest rate environment.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) provides various financial services in the United States through a network of 2,434 banking offices, principally operating in the Midwest and western regions of the United States, as well as through online services and a network of 4,232 ATMs.

The company offers depository services, including checking accounts, savings accounts and time certificate contracts; lending services, such as traditional credit products; and credit card services, lease financing and import/export trade, asset-backed lending, agricultural finance and other products. It also provides ancillary services comprising capital markets, treasury management and receivable lock-box collection services to corporate customers; and a range of asset management and fiduciary services for individuals, estates, foundations, business corporations and charitable organizations.