5 Defensive Stocks in Billionaire Ray Dalio’s Latest Portfolio

2. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 83

Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater Associates’ Holdings: $770,065,000

Percentage of Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater Associates’ Portfolio: 3.1%

Stock Price as of June 24: $182.29

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) is a New Brunswick, New Jersey-based developer of consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices. The company has an AAA credit rating. This rating is achieved by a few countries in the world and a select group of corporations. Between 2011 and 2013, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) stock had a better credit rating than the US government.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) has become the second-biggest spender on research and development (R&D) among pharma giants. Furthermore, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) is planning to increase its focus on the pharmaceutical business by spinning off the consumer healthcare segment as a separate entity. The segment was the smallest contributor to the bottom line, with a profit margin that was half of the pharmaceutical division.

The firm saw its revenue increase by 5% YoY to $23.4 billion during the first quarter of the year. Furthermore, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) has been increasing its dividend for the last 60 years. The stock offers a dividend yield of 2.52% as of June 26. Ray Dalio increased his investment in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) from 3.1 million shares to over 4.35 million shares during Q1 2022.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) was mentioned in the Q2 2021 investor letter of Distillate Capital. Here’s what the firm said:

“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.”

Of the 912 hedge funds in Insider Monkey’s database, 83 funds held a stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) as of Q1 2022.