Essex LLC Sells 2,444 Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Essex LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Free Report) by 8.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 25,045 shares of the company's stock after selling 2,444 shares during the period. Johnson & Johnson makes up about 0.9% of Essex LLC's holdings, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Essex LLC's holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $4,153,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in JNJ. Tallon Kerry Patrick bought a new stake in Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth about $290,000. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 13.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 51,876 shares of the company's stock worth $7,502,000 after buying an additional 6,332 shares during the last quarter. Hudson Value Partners LLC boosted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Hudson Value Partners LLC now owns 41,403 shares of the company's stock worth $5,648,000 after buying an additional 1,022 shares in the last quarter. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. grew its position in Johnson & Johnson by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. now owns 13,466 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,947,000 after acquiring an additional 723 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 17,161 shares of the company's stock worth $2,482,000 after acquiring an additional 1,682 shares in the last quarter. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on JNJ. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Johnson & Johnson from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, June 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Raymond James Financial decreased their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $164.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Leerink Partners lowered Johnson & Johnson from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $169.00 to $153.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Johnson & Johnson currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $170.88.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Up 0.2%

JNJ stock traded up $0.34 on Friday, reaching $155.90. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,482,521 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,047,072. The firm has a market cap of $375.11 billion, a PE ratio of 17.34, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $153.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $154.03. Johnson & Johnson has a 12-month low of $140.68 and a 12-month high of $169.99. 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 posted its 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. The firm had revenue of $21.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $21.65 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 24.42% and a return on equity of 33.46%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This is an increase from Johnson & Johnson's previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.34%. Johnson & Johnson's dividend payout ratio is 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.