Sentry Investment Management LLC Decreases Position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Sentry Investment Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 23.0% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 7,622 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,277 shares during the period. Johnson & Johnson makes up approximately 0.8% of Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $1,264,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of JNJ. Tallon Kerry Patrick purchased a new position in Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter valued at about $290,000. Capital & Planning LLC raised its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 13.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 1,528 shares of the company’s stock valued at $221,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 13.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 51,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,502,000 after buying an additional 6,332 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter worth $85,886,000. Finally, Synergy Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 116.2% in the fourth quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC now owns 12,734 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,940,000 after acquiring an additional 6,844 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Johnson & Johnson from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $157.00 to $172.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Wall Street Zen cut Johnson & Johnson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Leerink Partners lowered 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 research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $166.00 to $165.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $170.88.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

JNJ stock opened at $155.37 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $154.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $153.67. The company has a market capitalization of $373.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.36, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Johnson & Johnson has a fifty-two week low of $140.68 and a fifty-two week 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 for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $21.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.65 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 18.20% and a return on equity of 34.24%. Sell-side analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This is a positive change from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 27th. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.