Clean Yield Group Cuts Position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Clean Yield Group lessened its stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 7.3% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 20,504 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,614 shares during the quarter. Clean Yield Group’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $3,400,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on JNJ shares. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $171.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $164.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $157.00 to $172.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Raymond James dropped their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $170.88.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

JNJ opened at $155.02 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $153.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $153.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.11. Johnson & Johnson has a 1 year low of $140.68 and a 1 year high of $169.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $372.99 billion, a PE ratio of 23.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $21.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.65 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 18.20% and a return on equity of 34.24%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.35%. This is a boost from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 27th. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is 57.84%.

Johnson & Johnson 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.