Appleton Partners Inc. MA Cuts Stock Holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Appleton Partners Inc. MA reduced its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Free Report) by 3.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 48,045 shares of the company's stock after selling 1,872 shares during the period. Appleton Partners Inc. MA's holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $7,968,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Worth Financial Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in Johnson & Johnson during the 1st quarter worth approximately $210,000. Cabot Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 7.7% during the 1st quarter. Cabot Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,159 shares of the company's stock worth $358,000 after buying an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC increased its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 9.5% during the 1st quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 102,613 shares of the company's stock worth $17,017,000 after buying an additional 8,900 shares in the last quarter. Advocate Group LLC increased its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. Advocate Group LLC now owns 65,367 shares of the company's stock worth $10,840,000 after buying an additional 4,414 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Johnson & Johnson during the 1st quarter worth approximately $232,000. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on JNJ shares. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $181.00 price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Leerink Partners lowered Johnson & Johnson from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $169.00 to $153.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Johnson & Johnson from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday. Barclays dropped their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $166.00 to $165.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Raymond James Financial dropped their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $170.88.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Down 0.6%

JNJ opened at $149.81 on Friday. Johnson & Johnson has a 52 week low of $140.68 and a 52 week high of $169.99. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $154.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $153.65. The firm has a market cap of $360.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.18. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 33.46% and a net margin of 24.42%. The business had revenue of $21.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.65 billion. On average, equities analysts expect 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 was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were given 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. Johnson & Johnson's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.

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