American Investment Services Inc. Purchases Shares of 10,106 Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

American Investment Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 10,106 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,462,000.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of JNJ. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the 4th quarter valued at about $412,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Johnson & Johnson during the 4th quarter valued at $331,000. Total Wealth Planning & Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $628,000. Menard Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 1,866 shares of the company's stock valued at $270,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter worth approximately $349,206,000. 69.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

Shares of JNJ stock traded up $1.49 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $155.07. The stock had a trading volume of 4,314,565 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,933,540. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $154.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $153.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $373.10 billion, a PE ratio of 23.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42. Johnson & Johnson has a twelve month low of $140.68 and a twelve month high of $169.99.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $21.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.65 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 34.24% and a net margin of 18.20%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current 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 of this dividend is Tuesday, May 27th. Johnson & Johnson's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.84%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on JNJ. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Leerink Partners lowered Johnson & Johnson from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $169.00 to $153.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $157.00 to $172.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Raymond James lowered their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Johnson & Johnson from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $170.88.

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.