Berkshire Hathaway is a Scrooge Stock. Will It Have a Change of Heart and Start Paying Dividends in 2026?

Warren Buffett's company, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A)(NYSE: BRK.B), reminds me of Scrooge from The Christmas Carol. It's a miserly company when it comes to returning cash to its shareholders. The conglomerate hasn't paid a dividend since 1967 and hasn't repurchased any of its stock in five straight quarters. As a result, it sat on a record cash position of $381.7 billion at the end of the third quarter.

However, Berkshire Hathaway's stinginess could end in 2026 when Buffett steps down as CEO and turns over the reins to Greg Abel. Here's why initiating a dividend payment next year makes sense.

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Why Berkshire has been so stingy over the years

Berkshire Hathaway has opted against paying dividends for most of Warren Buffett's tenure. He and his former business partner, Charlie Munger, preferred to retain 100% of the company's earnings. That provided them with the cash to acquire additional operating businesses and invest in publicly traded stocks. They believed that they could earn a higher return for shareholders by reinvesting the company's retained earnings.

Their strategy has certainly paid off over the years. Berkshire Hathaway has produced a staggering 6 million percent return since Buffett took over the company in 1965. That has far outpaced the S&P 500's 46,000% return during that time frame.

Buffett and his team have used the income generated by Berkshire's operating businesses to buy some great companies over the years, including GEICO, BNSF, and See's Candies. They've also made some terrific stock investments, such as Coca-Cola and Apple.

A waning appetite for new investments

While Buffett hasn't had a problem finding opportunities to invest capital throughout most of his tenure, the value-focused investor has found fewer investments to his liking in recent years. Berkshire has sold more stocks than it bought for its equity portfolio in each of the last dozen quarters. These stock sales, which have included trimming its Apple position, have contributed to the rise in its cash position. Meanwhile, Buffett hasn't found too many acquisition opportunities either. Berkshire's recently announced $9.7 billion deal to buy Occidental Petroleum's chemicals subsidiary, OxyChem, is its largest since acquiring insurance company Alleghany Corporation for $11.6 billion in 2022.

Instead, Berkshire has let the cash pile up on its balance sheet, which has allowed it to capitalize on higher interest rates in recent years. The company held about $360 billion of T-bills at the end of the third quarter, which was more than the Federal Reserve's $195 billion. With rates around 3.8%, Berkshire Hathaway is generating meaningful interest income from this investment. However, rates have fallen considerably over the past year, eating into the income Berkshire can generate from its cash.

Why 2026 could be the year of the dividend

With Buffett stepping down as CEO in 2026, Berkshire Hathaway might alter its capital allocation strategy. The company's cash position has continued to build at a time when interest rates are falling, a trend that could persist into 2026. Meanwhile, the company isn't finding enough new investment opportunities to put its growing cash pile to work.

That's why initiating a dividend would make a lot of sense. The company generated an operating profit of $13.5 billion in the third quarter, up from $10 billion in the prior-year period. Meanwhile, its net income, which includes gains and losses on its stock portfolio, has risen from $26.3 billion to $30.8 billion.

Given the company's earnings, it could easily pay over $20 billion in dividends annually, or less than a quarter of its operating profit. It could fund that payment level with its cash position alone for nearly two decades. In other words, it wouldn't lose any of its capacity to capitalize on a future downturn.

It's time for Berkshire to stop being a Scrooge

Berkshire's strategy of retaining all of its earnings made sense when Buffett and Munger were able to find attractive opportunities to reinvest that cash. However, with Munger passing and Buffett passing the torch to Abel, it's time for the company to change its capital allocation strategy, as it is no longer finding good investment opportunities. Paying a dividend makes a lot of sense. It wouldn't consume much of the company's cash and would provide shareholders with some income that they could reinvest or spend as they see fit.

Matt DiLallo has positions in Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, and Coca-Cola and has the following options: short January 2026 $265 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple and Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool recommends Occidental Petroleum. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.