Gries Financial LLC Has $3.43 Million Stock Holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Gries Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Free Report) by 10.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,658 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 2,011 shares during the period. Johnson & Johnson comprises 0.7% of Gries Financial LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. Gries Financial LLC's holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $3,426,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Johnson & Johnson by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 232,792,559 shares of the company's stock worth $33,666,460,000 after purchasing an additional 1,772,706 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 2.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,561,036 shares in 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 bought a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the 4th quarter worth about $4,390,037,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,356,572 shares of the company's stock worth $3,522,447,000 after acquiring an additional 431,205 shares during the last quarter. 69.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

JNJ has been the topic of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Johnson & Johnson from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $157.00 to $172.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Raymond James Financial reduced their price objective on shares of 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 raised their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $171.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Leerink Partners cut Johnson & Johnson from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $169.00 to $153.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Johnson & Johnson has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $172.87.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

Shares of JNJ traded up $0.68 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $164.38. 8,202,992 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,141,586. Johnson & Johnson has a 12 month low of $140.68 and a 12 month high of $169.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $395.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.41. The business's 50-day moving average price is $154.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $155.12. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The company reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.09. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 25.00% and a return on equity of 33.07%. The business had revenue of $23.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.82 EPS. Johnson & Johnson's quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 26th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 26th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.16%. Johnson & Johnson's 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.