Abundance Wealth Counselors Increases Stock Holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Abundance Wealth Counselors lifted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Free Report) by 90.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 18,540 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 8,792 shares during the quarter. Johnson & Johnson accounts for approximately 0.6% of Abundance Wealth Counselors' holdings, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Abundance Wealth Counselors' holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $3,075,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 0.8% during the fourth 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 57,667,920 shares of the company's stock worth $8,321,881,000 after buying an additional 1,561,036 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 3,363,235 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter worth about $4,390,037,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,356,572 shares of the company's stock worth $3,522,447,000 after acquiring an additional 431,205 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.55% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Benchmark upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley boosted 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. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $181.00 target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Johnson & Johnson from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $170.88.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Down 0.6%

JNJ stock opened at $149.81 on Friday. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $154.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $153.63. Johnson & Johnson has a fifty-two week low of $140.68 and a fifty-two week high of $169.99. The stock has a market cap of $360.44 billion, a PE ratio of 16.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.18. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 24.42% and a return on equity of 33.46%. The company had revenue of $21.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.65 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict 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 was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.47%. This is a positive change from Johnson & Johnson's previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 27th. Johnson & Johnson's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.

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