Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Has $33.94 Million Stock Position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC lessened its holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Free Report) by 1.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 204,666 shares of the company's stock after selling 2,669 shares during the quarter. Johnson & Johnson accounts for approximately 1.6% of Chesley Taft & Associates LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC's holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $33,942,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of JNJ. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter valued at about $4,390,037,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,339,878,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Johnson & Johnson by 24,450.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,215,367 shares of the company's stock worth $1,196,596,000 after buying an additional 7,185,977 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 134.5% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 7,948,508 shares of the company's stock worth $1,149,536,000 after acquiring an additional 4,559,147 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 3,363,235 shares in the last quarter. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on JNJ shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Johnson & Johnson from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $181.00 target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Thursday. Finally, Leerink Partners lowered shares of Johnson & Johnson from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $169.00 to $153.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $170.88.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Up 0.9%

NYSE JNJ traded up $1.36 on Friday, hitting $155.02. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,387,625 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,927,044. The company's 50-day moving average is $153.56 and its 200 day moving average is $153.67. The firm has a market cap of $372.99 billion, a PE ratio of 23.31, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42. Johnson & Johnson has a 1-year low of $140.68 and a 1-year high of $169.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $21.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.65 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 18.20% and a return on equity of 34.24%. As a group, analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.35%. This is a boost from Johnson & Johnson's previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 27th. Johnson & Johnson's dividend payout ratio is presently 57.84%.

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.