Comerica Bank Cuts Stock Holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Comerica Bank cut its stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 880,098 shares of the company’s stock after selling 39,174 shares during the period. Johnson & Johnson comprises about 0.5% of Comerica Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Comerica Bank’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $127,280,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bridgewealth Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 54.9% in the fourth quarter. Bridgewealth Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,466 shares of the company’s stock valued at $388,000 after buying an additional 874 shares during the last quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new stake in Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter valued at $351,000. Voleon Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Johnson & Johnson during the 4th quarter worth $16,408,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,472,635 shares of the company’s stock valued at $500,094,000 after purchasing an additional 313,672 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Perbak Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,554,000. 69.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $181.00 price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Argus upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Johnson & Johnson from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $157.00 to $172.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $171.82.

Insider Buying and Selling at Johnson & Johnson

In related news, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.88, for a total value of $1,160,994.12. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 21,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,483,645.88. The trade was a 25.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total value of $62,928.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,357,552.70. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:JNJ opened at $155.90 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $375.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a 50 day moving average of $159.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $154.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Johnson & Johnson has a 52-week low of $140.68 and a 52-week high of $169.99.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.18. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 34.24% and a net margin of 18.20%. The company had revenue of $21.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.65 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be issued a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 27th. This is a boost from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.84%.

Johnson & Johnson Profile

Johnson & Johnson is a holding company, which engages in the research, development, manufacture, and sale of products in the healthcare field. It operates through the Innovative Medicine and MedTech segments. The Innovative Medicine segment focuses on immunology, infectious diseases, neuroscience, oncology, cardiovascular and metabolism, and pulmonary hypertension.