Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA Lowers Stock Holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA cut its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 5.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,794 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,645 shares during the period. Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $5,107,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new position in Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new stake in Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. 69.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on JNJ. Leerink Partnrs downgraded Johnson & Johnson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Bank of America cut their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $171.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $166.00 to $165.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $170.88.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

JNJ stock opened at $155.02 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $153.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $153.68. The firm has a market cap of $372.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.31, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42. 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 has a 1 year low of $140.68 and a 1 year high of $169.99.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $21.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.65 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 34.24% and a net margin of 18.20%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be given a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 27th. This is a positive change from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. Johnson & Johnson’s 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.