Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Shares Sold by Associated Banc Corp

Key Points

• Associated Banc Corp reduced its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 3.3%, selling 5,087 shares during the first quarter, resulting in ownership of 149,111 shares worth approximately $24.7 million.
• Johnson & Johnson's quarterly earnings showed an EPS of $2.77, exceeding estimates of $2.68, with revenue of $23.74 billion, reflecting a 5.8% year-over-year increase.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share, translating to an annualized rate of $5.20 and a yield of 3.0%.

Associated Banc Corp trimmed its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Free Report) by 3.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 149,111 shares of the company's stock after selling 5,087 shares during the period. Associated Banc Corp's holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $24,729,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of JNJ. iA Global Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 8.7% during the first quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 356,782 shares of the company's stock valued at $59,169,000 after purchasing an additional 28,537 shares during the last quarter. LCM Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. LCM Capital Management Inc now owns 10,986 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,822,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Johnson & Johnson in the 1st quarter valued at about $167,000. Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 283.8% during the first quarter. Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 13,209 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,191,000 after buying an additional 9,767 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 40.3% during the first quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 3,244 shares of the company's stock valued at $538,000 after buying an additional 932 shares in the last quarter. 69.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

JNJ has been the subject of several research reports. Raymond James Financial reduced their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $171.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Barclays boosted their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Leerink Partnrs lowered Johnson & Johnson from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating and set a $167.00 price objective (up from $164.00) on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $174.50.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

JNJ stock traded down $0.02 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $170.72. The stock had a trading volume of 8,955,892 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,226,614. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company's 50-day moving average price is $158.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $157.00. Johnson & Johnson has a twelve month low of $140.68 and a twelve month high of $172.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $411.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.26, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.41.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Get Free Report) last posted 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. The firm had revenue of $23.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.85 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 25.00% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.82 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 26th. Johnson & Johnson's dividend payout ratio is 55.61%.

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.