Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $1.30

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 15th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be given 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 3.40%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 27th. This is a 4.8% increase from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24.

Johnson & Johnson has raised its dividend by an average of 5.4% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 64 consecutive years. Johnson & Johnson has a dividend payout ratio of 46.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Johnson & Johnson to earn $11.07 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 47.0%.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE JNJ opened at $153.12 on Friday. Johnson & Johnson has a 1-year low of $140.68 and a 1-year high of $169.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $155.24 and a 200-day moving average of $153.69. The firm has a market cap of $368.41 billion, a PE ratio of 23.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last released its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $21.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.65 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 34.24% and a net margin of 18.20%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.88, for a total value of $1,160,994.12. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 21,001 shares in the company, valued at $3,483,645.88. This represents a 25.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Johnson & Johnson

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on JNJ. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Barclays lowered their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $166.00 to $165.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Leerink Partnrs lowered Johnson & Johnson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Leerink Partners lowered Johnson & Johnson from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $169.00 to $153.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Johnson & Johnson from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $157.00 to $172.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $170.88.

About Johnson & Johnson

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.