Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Free Report) by 11.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 150,110 shares of the company's stock after selling 19,166 shares during the period. Johnson & Johnson accounts for about 1.2% of Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $24,894,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 232,792,559 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,666,460,000 after buying an additional 1,772,706 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 57,667,920 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,321,881,000 after buying an additional 1,561,036 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 30,813,175 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,456,201,000 after buying an additional 3,363,235 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter valued at about $4,390,037,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,356,572 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,522,447,000 after buying an additional 431,205 shares during the last quarter. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Down 0.6%

NYSE JNJ traded down $0.92 on Friday, hitting $149.81. 22,591,152 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,022,554. Johnson & Johnson has a 52-week low of $140.68 and a 52-week high of $169.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $360.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.42. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $154.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $153.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.26.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.18. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 24.42% and a return on equity of 33.46%. The firm had revenue of $21.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.65 billion. Research analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. This is a boost from Johnson & Johnson's previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.47%. Johnson & Johnson's dividend payout ratio is currently 57.84%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on JNJ. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $166.00 to $165.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Benchmark raised shares of Johnson & Johnson to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Johnson & Johnson presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $170.88.

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.