Johnson & Johnson Stock Capital Return Hits $159 Bil
In the last decade, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) stock has returned an impressive $159 Bil back to its shareholders through cold, hard cash via dividends and buybacks. Let’s look at some numbers and compare how this payout power stacks up against the market’s biggest capital-return machines.
As it turns out, JNJ stock has returned the 8th highest amount to shareholders in history.
| JNJ | S&P Median | |
|---|---|---|
| Dividends | $105 Bil | $4.5 Bil |
| Share Repurchase | $54 Bil | $5.6 Bil |
| Total Returned | $159 Bil | $9.4 Bil |
| Total Returned as % of Current Market Cap | 30.1% | 24.6% |
Why should you care? Because dividends and share repurchases represent direct, tangible returns of capital to shareholders. They also signal management’s confidence in the company’s financial health and ability to generate sustainable cash flows. And there are more stocks like that. Here is a list of the top 10 companies ranked by total capital returned to shareholders via dividends and stock repurchases.
Top 10 Stocks By Total Shareholder Return
| Total Money Returned | As % Of Current Market Cap | via Dividends | via Share Repurchases | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAPL | $847 Bil | 22.0% | $141 Bil | $706 Bil |
| MSFT | $368 Bil | 10.9% | $169 Bil | $200 Bil |
| GOOGL | $357 Bil | 8.9% | $15 Bil | $342 Bil |
| XOM | $218 Bil | 39.4% | $146 Bil | $72 Bil |
| WFC | $212 Bil | 74.7% | $58 Bil | $153 Bil |
| META | $183 Bil | 11.7% | $9.1 Bil | $174 Bil |
| JPM | $181 Bil | 21.2% | $0.0 | $181 Bil |
| JNJ | $159 Bil | 30.1% | $105 Bil | $54 Bil |
| ORCL | $158 Bil | 29.1% | $35 Bil | $123 Bil |
| CVX | $157 Bil | 48.6% | $99 Bil | $58 Bil |
For full ranking, visit Buybacks & Dividends Ranking
What do you notice here? The total capital returned to shareholders as a % of the current market cap appears inversely proportional to growth prospects for reinvestments. Stocks like Meta (META) and Microsoft (MSFT) are growing much faster, in a more predictable way, compared to the others, but they have returned a much lower fraction of their market cap to shareholders.
That’s the flip side to high capital returns. Sure, they are attractive, but you have to ask yourself the question: Am I sacrificing growth and sound fundamentals? With that in mind, let’s look at some numbers for JNJ. (see Buy or Sell Johnson & Johnson Stock for more details)
Johnson & Johnson Fundamentals
- Revenue Growth: 5.1% LTM and 6.1% last 3-year average.
- Cash Generation: Nearly 20.3% free cash flow margin and 26.2% operating margin LTM.
- Recent Revenue Shocks: The minimum annual revenue growth in the last 3 years for JNJ was 4.8%.
- Valuation: Johnson & Johnson stock trades at a P/E multiple of 21.1
| JNJ | S&P Median | |
|---|---|---|
| Sector | Health Care | – |
| Industry | Pharmaceuticals | – |
| PE Ratio | 21.1 | 24.3 |
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| LTM* Revenue Growth | 5.1% | 6.4% |
| 3Y Average Annual Revenue Growth | 6.1% | 5.7% |
| Min Annual Revenue Growth Last 3Y | 4.8% | 0.2% |
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| LTM* Operating Margin | 26.2% | 18.8% |
| 3Y Average Operating Margin | 26.4% | 18.4% |
| LTM* Free Cash Flow Margin | 20.3% | 13.5% |
*LTM: Last Twelve Months
The table gives good overview of what you get from JNJ stock, but what about the risk?
JNJ Historical Risk
JNJ isn’t immune to big drops. It fell about 35% in both the Dot-Com Bubble and the Global Financial Crisis. The Covid sell-off hit it around 27%. Even smaller shocks like the 2018 correction and the recent inflation spike knocked it down close to 18%. Solid fundamentals matter, but when the market swings hard, JNJ still takes a hit.
The Trefis High Quality (HQ) Portfolio, with a collection of 30 stocks, has a track record of comfortably outperforming its benchmark that includes all 3 – the S&P 500, S&P mid-cap, and Russell 2000 indices. Why is that? As a group, HQ Portfolio stocks provided better returns with less risk versus the benchmark index; less of a roller-coaster ride, as evident in HQ Portfolio performance metrics.