Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Lowers Holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. decreased its holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 8.5% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 34,709 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,206 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $5,756,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bremer Bank National Association raised its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 11.8% in the first quarter. Bremer Bank National Association now owns 2,979 shares of the company’s stock valued at $494,000 after acquiring an additional 314 shares in the last quarter. Silverberg Bernstein Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 3.4% in the first quarter. Silverberg Bernstein Capital Management LLC now owns 9,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,493,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Spring Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 0.3% in the first quarter. Spring Capital Management LLC now owns 45,062 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,473,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 5.3% in the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 1,636 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Planned Solutions Inc. raised its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 11.5% during the first quarter. Planned Solutions Inc. now owns 4,055 shares of the company’s stock worth $672,000 after purchasing an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

JNJ has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $181.00 price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $164.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Raymond James cut their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Leerink Partners cut shares of Johnson & Johnson from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $169.00 to $153.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $170.88.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

Shares of NYSE JNJ opened at $154.45 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $371.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.23, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42. Johnson & Johnson has a one year low of $140.68 and a one year high of $169.99. The company’s fifty day moving average is $154.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $153.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.18. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 18.20% and a return on equity of 34.24%. The business had revenue of $21.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.65 billion. 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. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.37%. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is presently 57.84%.

Johnson & Johnson Company 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.