5 Best Dividend Stocks to Buy According to Cliff Asness’ AQR Capital Management

2. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 88
Dividend Yield as of January 17: 2.53%

An American healthcare company, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) is among the 35 members of Dividend Kings list, increasing its dividend consistently for the past 59 years, making it one of the best dividend stocks in Cliff Asness’ portfolio. Currently, the company pays an annual dividend of $1.06 per share, with a dividend yield of 2.53%. Johnson & Johnson’s (NYSE:JNJ) five-year average annual dividend growth rate stands at 6%.

In Q3 2021, AQR Capital Management held shares worth $491.8 million in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), which accounted for 0.91% of its 13F portfolio. Acknowledging the efficacy of the company’s vaccine against Omicron, recently, Credit Suisse lifted its price target on Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) to $200, while maintaining an Outperform rating on the shares.

As per Insider Monkey’s data for Q3, 88 hedge funds held stakes in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), the same as in the previous quarter. These stakes hold a consolidated value of over $6.8 billion.

Distillate Capital mentioned Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) in its Q2 2021 investor letter. Here is what the firm has to say:

“The largest additions in the rebalance, Johnson & Johnson was around 50 and 40 basis points incrementally. J&J underperformed in the quarter while its normalized free cash flows held steady and so its position size was topped off to match the stable cash flows.”