West Paces Advisors Inc. Purchases 4,177 Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

West Paces Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 101.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,312 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,177 shares during the period. West Paces Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $1,378,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 232,792,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,666,460,000 after purchasing an additional 1,772,706 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Johnson & Johnson by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 57,667,920 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,321,881,000 after acquiring an additional 1,561,036 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Johnson & Johnson by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 30,813,175 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,456,201,000 after acquiring an additional 3,363,235 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter valued at about $4,390,037,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Johnson & Johnson by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,356,572 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,522,447,000 after acquiring an additional 431,205 shares in the last quarter. 69.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE JNJ opened at $155.19 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $373.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $153.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $153.67. 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 52-week low of $140.68 and a 52-week high of $169.99.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $21.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.65 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 18.20% and a return on equity of 34.24%. Analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.35%. This is a boost from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is currently 57.84%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on JNJ. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Raymond James lowered their price objective 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 reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Leerink Partners cut shares of Johnson & Johnson from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $169.00 to $153.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $170.88.

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.