Legacy Financial Strategies LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Legacy Financial Strategies LLC lowered its position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 31.6% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,787 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,286 shares during the period. Legacy Financial Strategies LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $462,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Doliver Advisors LP lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 1.4% in the first quarter. Doliver Advisors LP now owns 14,191 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,353,000 after buying an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Johnson & Johnson in the first quarter valued at approximately $678,000. Red Spruce Capital LLC lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 2.8% in the first quarter. Red Spruce Capital LLC now owns 12,505 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,074,000 after buying an additional 344 shares during the last quarter. Global Financial Private Client LLC lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 6.0% in the first quarter. Global Financial Private Client LLC now owns 1,854 shares of the company’s stock valued at $307,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Welch Group LLC lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 9.8% in the first quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 372,781 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,028,000 after buying an additional 33,255 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of JNJ stock opened at $154.99 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $154.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $153.65. Johnson & Johnson has a 1-year low of $140.68 and a 1-year high of $169.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $372.92 billion, a PE ratio of 23.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

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

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be issued a $1.30 dividend. This is a positive change from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.36%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio is 57.84%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on JNJ. Wall Street Zen cut Johnson & Johnson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $164.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Benchmark upgraded Johnson & Johnson to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Bank of America cut their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $171.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $181.00 price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $170.88.

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.