Simplicity Wealth LLC Purchases 18,153 Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Simplicity Wealth LLC grew its stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 175.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,507 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,153 shares during the period. Simplicity Wealth LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $4,728,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 232,792,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,666,460,000 after purchasing an additional 1,772,706 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 57,667,920 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,321,881,000 after purchasing an additional 1,561,036 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 30,813,175 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,456,201,000 after purchasing an additional 3,363,235 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,390,037,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,356,572 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,522,447,000 after purchasing an additional 431,205 shares in the last quarter. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

JNJ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Benchmark upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $157.00 to $172.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $164.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $181.00 target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Johnson & Johnson has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $170.88.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE JNJ opened at $155.19 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $373.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42. Johnson & Johnson has a 52-week low of $140.68 and a 52-week high of $169.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.11. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $153.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $153.67.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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%. Equities analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.35%. This is a positive change from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is currently 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.