AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 5.7% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 10,658 shares of the company’s stock after selling 646 shares during the quarter. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $1,768,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on JNJ. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $166.00 to $165.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $164.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $171.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $170.88.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Up 0.6%

NYSE:JNJ opened at $152.27 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $366.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.94, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.42. Johnson & Johnson has a 1-year low of $140.68 and a 1-year high of $169.99. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $153.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $153.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last announced 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 24.42% and a return on equity of 33.46%. The firm had revenue of $21.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.65 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 27th. This is an increase from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.42%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio is 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.