Watch List: Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), Merck & Co (NYSE:MRK), Covidien plc (NYSE:COV), AbbVie Inc (NYSE:ABBV)

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) raised its quarterly dividend to 70 cents per share ($2.80 per share annualized), representing an increase of 6.1% over the previous payout of 66 cents per share. The new dividend is payable on Jun10 to shareholders of record as of May 27, 2014. The ex-dividend date is May 22, 2014. The announcement of the encouraging move came at the annual meeting of the company’s shareholders.  Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) shares after opening at $99.97 moved to $100.26 on last trade day and at the end of the day closed at $99.79. Company price to sales ratio in past twelve months was calculated as 3.92 and price to cash ratio as 9.66. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) showed a positive weekly performance of 0.84%.

Bank of America reiterated their buy rating on shares of Merck & Co. (NYSE:MRK) in a research report released on Thursday morning, AmericanBankingNews.com reports. Bank of America currently has a $62.00 price objective on the stock.Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) shares fell -0.50% in last trading session and ended the day on $198.80. MRK return on equity ratio is recorded as 12.10% and its return on assets is 5.60%. Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) yearly performance is 25.17%.

Covidien plc (NYSE:COV) will post its Q214 quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. Analysts expect Covidien plc to post earnings of $0.95 per share and revenue of $2.61 billion for the quarter. Covidien plc (NYSE:COV) shares moved down -2.23% in last trading session and was closed at $69.38, while trading in range of $67.68-$69.50. Covidien plc (NYSE:COV) year to date performance is 2.82%.

Abbvie, Inc. (NYSE: ABBV) reported Q1 EPS of $0.71, $0.03 better than the analyst estimate of $0.68. Revenue for the quarter came in at $4.56 billion versus the consensus estimate of $4.33 billion. AbbVie Inc (NYSE:ABBV) weekly performance is 1.22%. On last trading day company shares ended up $49.14. AbbVie Inc (NYSE:ABBV) distance from 50-day simple moving average is -2.75%. Analysts mean target price for the company is $53.59.