Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC Trims Holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC cut its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 2.8% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 23,435 shares of the company’s stock after selling 666 shares during the quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $3,886,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of JNJ. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 0.8% in 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 57,667,920 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,321,881,000 after purchasing an additional 1,561,036 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 30,813,175 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,456,201,000 after purchasing an additional 3,363,235 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth about $4,390,037,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake 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 worth $3,522,447,000 after buying an additional 431,205 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

JNJ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $166.00 to $165.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Leerink Partnrs lowered shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $171.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Raymond James Financial dropped their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $164.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Eleven equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $170.88.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

NYSE:JNJ opened at $152.33 on Thursday. Johnson & Johnson has a 1-year low of $140.68 and a 1-year high of $169.99. The stock has a market cap of $366.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.94, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $153.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $153.67.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.18. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 33.46% and a net margin of 24.42%. The firm had revenue of $21.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.65 billion. On average, research analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.41%. This is an increase from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio is 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.