Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Raises Dividend to $1.30 Per Share

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 15th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be paid a dividend of 1.30 per share on Tuesday, June 10th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.38%. This is a 4.8% increase from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24.

Johnson & Johnson has increased its dividend payment by an average of 5.4% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 63 years. Johnson & Johnson has a dividend payout ratio of 45.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Johnson & Johnson to earn $11.07 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 44.8%.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

NYSE JNJ opened at $153.66 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $370.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.49. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $159.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $155.10. Johnson & Johnson has a fifty-two week low of $140.68 and a fifty-two week high of $169.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.18. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 34.24% and a net margin of 18.20%. The business had revenue of $21.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.65 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

JNJ has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $155.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Johnson & Johnson from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $157.00 to $172.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Leerink Partners lowered their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $182.00 to $169.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Argus upgraded Johnson & Johnson to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 25th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Johnson & Johnson presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $171.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total transaction of $62,928.45. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,357,552.70. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.88, for a total value of $1,160,994.12. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 21,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,483,645.88. This trade represents a 25.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Johnson & Johnson

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Johnson & Johnson stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 13.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 51,876 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 6,332 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $7,502,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Johnson & Johnson Company Profile

Johnson & Johnson is a holding company, which engages in the research, development, manufacture, and sale of products in the healthcare field. It operates through the Innovative Medicine and MedTech segments. The Innovative Medicine segment focuses on immunology, infectious diseases, neuroscience, oncology, cardiovascular and metabolism, and pulmonary hypertension.