I have long written about my love of Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co Ltd (ASX: SOL), or Soul Patts for short, shares, and how this ASX 200 investing house is one of my largest ASX investments.
Soul Patts is a rather unique company in that it functions more as an investment vehicle than a traditional business that sells goods or services. It owns and manages a vast underlying portfolio of investments on behalf of its shareholders. These investments range from strategic and broad-based stakes in a range of other ASX shares to private equity and property assets.
The company has a formidable track record when it comes to these investments, with long-term shareholders enjoying market-beating returns for many years.
An important component of those returns is the dividends that Soul Patts has paid out. This company has the best income track record on the ASX, bar none, delivering an annual dividend pay rise every single year since 1998.
As such, you can understand the love I have for this company as an investment, and why it is one of my largest ASX positions.
Despite this love, I haven't made any major investments in the company for about two years, disregarding some small top-ups earlier this year.
Even so, I was thrilled to make a large purchase of Soul Patts stock back in late 2023, at a price of just under $32 a share. Given the company has been as high as $45.14 a share (hit in September 2025), this has fortunately paid off quite well so far.
Are Soul Patts shares a buy today?
Today, however, the company is well off that record high. In fact, it has taken quite the tumble since early September. At the current price of $36.57 (at the time of writing), Soul Patts is down about 18% from that high watermark from just ten weeks ago.
So does that make the company a buy?
Well, Soul Patts is certainly a lot cheaper than it was back in September. However, I don't think it's really cheap just yet. This company attracted a rush of new buyers and investor optimism when it announced the plans to merge with Brickworks back in early June.
The merger went off without a hitch in September, but ever since, the air has been coming out of the brief share price inflation that the merger seemed to spark.
So yes, Soul Patts shares are down 18% from their September peak, but they are still above where they were back in May.
For me to pick up more shares, the company would have to get to at least $35.50, but probably a bit lower. That would put Soul Patts' dividend yield, by my calculations anyway, above its long-term average. I've got my fingers crossed that this company's shares keep on dropping accordingly.
