Benjamin Edwards Inc. Sells 1,899 Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Key Points

• Benjamin Edwards Inc. has reduced its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 1.5%, selling 1,899 shares, bringing its total to 123,568 shares valued at $20.49 million.
• Several analysts have given mixed ratings on Johnson & Johnson, with UBS Group increasing the target price to $190 and a consensus of ratings suggesting a "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $174.50.
• Johnson & Johnson announced a quarterly dividend of $1.30, resulting in a 3.0% dividend yield, with a payout ratio of 55.61%.

Benjamin Edwards Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Free Report) by 1.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 123,568 shares of the company's stock after selling 1,899 shares during the quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc.'s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $20,493,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 24,450.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,215,367 shares of the company's stock worth $1,196,596,000 after acquiring an additional 7,185,977 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings 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 valued at $3,844,580,000 after purchasing an additional 4,842,582 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $1,149,536,000 after purchasing an additional 4,559,147 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 12.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 30,813,175 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,456,201,000 after purchasing an additional 3,363,235 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1,382.0% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,030,084 shares of the company's stock worth $502,509,000 after buying an additional 2,825,626 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.55% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Leerink Partnrs downgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Benchmark upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Leerink Partners cut shares of Johnson & Johnson from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $169.00 to $153.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Raymond James Financial cut their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $174.50.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Up 1.1%

JNJ traded up $1.87 during trading on Friday, hitting $173.40. 7,686,049 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,496,232. The stock has a market capitalization of $417.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.55, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.41. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $159.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $157.52. Johnson & Johnson has a 12-month low of $140.68 and a 12-month high of $173.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The company reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.09. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 25.00% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm had revenue of $23.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.82 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share 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 given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 26th. Johnson & Johnson's payout ratio is 55.61%.

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.