Freedom Financial Partners LLC Acquires New Stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Freedom Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,923 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $485,000.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Lantz Financial LLC raised its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 11,974 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,986,000 after acquiring an additional 377 shares during the period. Sulzberger Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter worth $453,000. Oregon Pacific Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter worth $949,000. Horan Securities Inc. grew its position in Johnson & Johnson by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Horan Securities Inc. now owns 7,178 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,038,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its position in Johnson & Johnson by 57.9% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 3,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $501,000 after acquiring an additional 1,271 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James cut their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Benchmark upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Leerink Partnrs lowered shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $181.00 target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Eleven research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $170.88.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

JNJ stock opened at $154.45 on Wednesday. Johnson & Johnson has a 1 year low of $140.68 and a 1 year high of $169.99. The company has a market cap of $371.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.23, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $154.01 and a 200 day moving average of $153.68. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.18. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 18.20% and a return on equity of 34.24%. The company had revenue of $21.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.65 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This is an increase from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.37%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 57.84%.

About Johnson & Johnson

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.