Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Shares Purchased by Advisors Preferred LLC

Advisors Preferred LLC boosted its position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Free Report) by 367.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,884 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 10,914 shares during the quarter. Advisors Preferred LLC's holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $2,128,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth $4,390,037,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 24,450.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,215,367 shares of the company's stock worth $1,196,596,000 after buying an additional 7,185,977 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 26.4% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 23,182,464 shares of the company's stock worth $3,844,580,000 after buying an additional 4,842,582 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake 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. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake 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. 69.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:JNJ traded down $1.27 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $168.29. 6,199,690 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,375,731. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $156.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $155.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market cap of $404.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.41. Johnson & Johnson has a fifty-two week low of $140.68 and a fifty-two week high of $169.99.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The company reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.09. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 33.07% and a net margin of 25.00%. The company had revenue of $23.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.82 EPS. Johnson & Johnson's revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 26th will be issued a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 26th. Johnson & Johnson's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on JNJ. Leerink Partners downgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $169.00 to $153.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Benchmark raised shares of Johnson & Johnson to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Johnson & Johnson from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $157.00 to $172.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Johnson & Johnson currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $174.50.

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.