Madison Investments, an investment advisor, released its “Madison Dividend Income Fund” first-quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the first quarter, the fund (Class Y) returned +3.2% compared to the -4.3%, +2.1%, and +1.7% returns for the S&P 500 Index, Russell 1000 Value Index, and Lipper Equity Income peer group. The firm views that since late 2022, the shift from dividend stocks to non-dividend tech stocks has created a unique opportunity to buy high-quality dividend stocks at below-average valuations. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025.
In its first-quarter 2025 investor letter, Madison Dividend Income Fund highlighted stocks such as Honeywell International Inc. (NASDAQ:HON). Honeywell International Inc. (NASDAQ:HON) is an innovation and technology company that provides aerospace technologies, industrial automation, building automation, and energy and sustainable solutions. The one-month return of Honeywell International Inc. (NASDAQ:HON) was -5.95%, and its shares gained 2.78% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On April 25, 2025, Honeywell International Inc. (NASDAQ:HON) stock closed at $199.16 per share with a market capitalization of $129.127 billion.
Madison Dividend Income Fund stated the following regarding Honeywell International Inc. (NASDAQ:HON) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:
“This quarter we want to highlight Honeywell International Inc. (NASDAQ:HON) as a high-quality relative yield investment in the Industrial sector. HON is a premier industrial company with leading positions in Aerospace (40% of revenues), Industrial Automation (26%), Building Automation (17%) and Safety and Productivity Solutions (17%). A common theme across these end markets is that HON embeds its products into the operations of its customers, which generates long-term recurring revenue from aftermarket products/services. We believe HON has a sustainable competitive advantage due to its scale, high customer switching costs, intangible assets, and long history of innovation. Many HON products are a low percentage of its customers’ total costs, and these products get designed into products and operations, which provide a long-term source of consistent revenue.
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