Ashburton Jersey Ltd Lowers Position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Ashburton Jersey Ltd lowered its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 57,641 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,662 shares during the period. Johnson & Johnson makes up approximately 4.1% of Ashburton Jersey Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Ashburton Jersey Ltd’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $8,978,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its position in Johnson & Johnson by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 10,620,264 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,664,620,000 after purchasing an additional 498,647 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 6,061,707 shares of the company’s stock valued at $950,112,000 after buying an additional 26,982 shares during the period. Ninety One UK Ltd lifted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 4,436,013 shares of the company’s stock worth $695,301,000 after acquiring an additional 12,867 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 4,396,416 shares of the company’s stock worth $688,198,000 after acquiring an additional 200,193 shares during the period. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp grew its position in Johnson & Johnson by 2.9% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 4,306,268 shares of the company’s stock valued at $670,726,000 after acquiring an additional 120,891 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on JNJ shares. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $181.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $168.00 to $167.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. StockNews.com upgraded Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. HSBC raised shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $169.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $215.00 price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Monday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $175.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Johnson & Johnson news, EVP Jennifer L. Taubert sold 59,397 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.27, for a total value of $9,281,969.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 141,416 shares in the company, valued at $22,099,078.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, EVP Jennifer L. Taubert sold 59,397 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.27, for a total value of $9,281,969.19. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 141,416 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,099,078.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder & Johnson Johnson sold 3,725 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.81, for a total transaction of $96,142.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 4,099,575 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $105,810,030.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Down 0.5 %

Johnson & Johnson stock opened at $148.57 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $153.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $155.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market cap of $357.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.26, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.55. Johnson & Johnson has a 52 week low of $143.13 and a 52 week high of $175.97.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The company reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.07. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 36.70% and a net margin of 45.26%. The business had revenue of $21.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.68 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 21st will be given a $1.24 dividend. This is a positive change from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.19. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 20th. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.34%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.68%.

About Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson, together with its subsidiaries, researches, develops, manufactures, and sells various products in the healthcare field worldwide. The company's Innovative Medicine segment offers products for various therapeutic areas, such as immunology, including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and psoriasis; infectious diseases comprising HIV/AIDS; neuroscience, consisting of mood disorders, neurodegenerative disorders, and schizophrenia; oncology, such as prostate cancer, hematologic malignancies, lung cancer, and bladder cancer; cardiovascular and metabolism, including thrombosis, diabetes, and macular degeneration; and pulmonary hypertension comprising pulmonary arterial hypertension through retailers, wholesalers, distributors, hospitals, and healthcare professionals for prescription use.