Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) managed to beat earnings expectations this morning, and the drug and consumer products giant also reaffirmed its earnings guidance for 2013. This morning we noted that we still expect a dividend hike and that the news was not at the same time. It turns out that investors probably will not get their dividend hike until the middle of the coming week.

If you look through the investor relations website for J&J, the earnings of 2012 in April were about a week before the dividend hike and that coincided with the company’s annual meeting of shareholders. It appears that 2013 is on track for a repeat of 2012.

After looking through the J&J news and upcoming events the 2013 annual meeting of shareholders is set for Thursday, April 25, 2013 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time.

We have also suggested in a recent CNBC appearance that we would only look for a normalized dividend hike. Last year’s dividend hike was by about 7% and we do not expect anything heroic from the company. If J&J lifts its $0.61 per quarter payout to $0.65 per share then it will be paying out roughly 48% of its adjusted earnings expectations.

As far as what else will drive an expected dividend hike, J&J shares hit an all-time high of $83.54 on Tuesday and it closed up 2.1% at $83.44 on above-average trading volume of over 12.4 million shares.

We would also take one more note home here on why this dividend is going higher. When J&J announced its dividend hike last year it market the 50th consecutive year where the company has raised its dividend.

J&J looks to be a shoe-in for a higher dividend in 2013. Our first guess is that the dividend will move up from $0.61 per share per quarter to $0.65, with a possibility of $0.66 being seen.

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