Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) is Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc.’s 10th Largest Position

Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 0.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 127,063 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,183 shares during the period. Johnson & Johnson accounts for about 3.0% of Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $21,072,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of JNJ. MBA Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.2% in the first quarter. MBA Advisors LLC now owns 5,553 shares of the company’s stock valued at $921,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,928 shares of the company’s stock valued at $651,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Nabity Jensen Investment Management Inc lifted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Nabity Jensen Investment Management Inc now owns 4,624 shares of the company’s stock worth $767,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 12,970 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,151,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Almanack Investment Partners LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.1% during the first quarter. Almanack Investment Partners LLC. now owns 6,633 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,100,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on JNJ. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $181.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Leerink Partners downgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $169.00 to $153.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Benchmark raised shares of Johnson & Johnson to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $171.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.50.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

Shares of JNJ stock opened at $169.62 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $155.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $155.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market cap of $408.11 billion, a PE ratio of 18.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.41. Johnson & Johnson has a 1 year low of $140.68 and a 1 year high of $169.99.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The company reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $23.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.85 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 33.07% and a net margin of 25.00%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.82 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 26th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 26th. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is currently 55.61%.

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.