5 Best Safe Dividend Stocks For 2023

2. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Dividend Yield as of February 14: 2.84%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 85

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) is an American multinational corporation founded in 1886 that develops medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and consumer packaged goods. The company has been raising its payouts for the past 61 years consistently and currently pays a quarterly dividend of $1.13 per share. The stock’s dividend yield on February 14 came in at 2.84%.

Earlier this December, Citi analyst Joanne Wuensch raised her price target on Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) to $205 from $198 and maintained a Buy rating on the shares. The analyst states that “many headwinds remain” for the North America medical supplies and technology group in 2023, but these should ease in the second half of next year, alleviating operating margin pressures. Thus, she is moving her focus on stocks “that will swim past the pandemic.” Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) ranks among these stocks.

At the end of Q3 2022, 85 hedge funds in Insider Monkey’s database owned stakes in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), up from 83 in the previous quarter. The collective value of these stakes is over $5.4 billion. Among these hedge funds, Fisher Asset Management was the company’s leading stakeholder in Q3.

Here’s what Distillate Capital Partners LLC said about Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) in its Q2 2022 investor letter:

“Johnson & Johnson was among the 2 largest trims at around 1% each. Each stock was up 1% in the quarter compared to the 16% price decline for the S&P 500 and the positions were reduced as the valuations became somewhat less appealing, though still attractive enough to warrant inclusion.”