Howard Financial Services LTD. Has $772,000 Stock Position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Howard Financial Services LTD. lowered its stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 6.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,653 shares of the company’s stock after selling 297 shares during the quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD.’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $772,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of JNJ. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,390,037,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,339,878,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in Johnson & Johnson by 134.5% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 7,948,508 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,149,536,000 after buying an additional 4,559,147 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Johnson & Johnson by 12.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 30,813,175 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,456,201,000 after buying an additional 3,363,235 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth approximately $349,206,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on JNJ shares. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Johnson & Johnson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $181.00 price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $164.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $170.88.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of JNJ stock opened at $153.44 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $369.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $154.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $153.63. Johnson & Johnson has a 1 year low of $140.68 and a 1 year high of $169.99.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $21.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.65 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 34.24% and a net margin of 18.20%. On average, research analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. This is a boost from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.39%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 27th. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is 57.84%.

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.