Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC raised its holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 63.8% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 706,099 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 274,905 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $117,099,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Elios Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Elios Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,496 shares of the company’s stock valued at $746,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Atlantic Family Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Atlantic Family Wealth LLC now owns 1,603 shares of the company’s stock worth $266,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. MBA Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. MBA Advisors LLC now owns 5,553 shares of the company’s stock worth $921,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 1.8% in 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. Finally, Nabity Jensen Investment Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Nabity Jensen Investment Management Inc now owns 4,624 shares of the company’s stock valued at $767,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the period. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of Johnson & Johnson stock opened at $174.29 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $419.75 billion, a PE ratio of 18.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $160.42 and its 200 day moving average is $158.01. Johnson & Johnson has a 1 year low of $140.68 and a 1 year high of $174.76.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The company reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $23.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.85 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 25.00% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.82 EPS. Equities research 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 issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 26th. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is presently 55.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

JNJ has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Benchmark upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $181.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs cut shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.50.

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.