Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. Has $1.12 Million Holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Key Points

• Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. cut its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 97.2%, holding only 6,772 shares after selling 232,300 shares during the first quarter.
• Several institutional investors, including Brighton Jones LLC and Hudson Value Partners LLC, increased their stakes in Johnson & Johnson, indicating mixed sentiment among investors.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Johnson & Johnson, with Goldman Sachs upgrading the stock to a "buy" rating and setting a target of $172.00, while UBS increased theirs to $190.00.

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. decreased its position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Free Report) by 97.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,772 shares of the company's stock after selling 232,300 shares during the quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.'s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $1,123,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of JNJ. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 57,667,920 shares of the company's stock worth $8,321,881,000 after purchasing an additional 1,561,036 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 30,813,175 shares of the company's stock worth $4,456,201,000 after acquiring an additional 3,363,235 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.8% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 26.4% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 23,182,464 shares of the company's stock worth $3,844,580,000 after acquiring an additional 4,842,582 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 19,126,079 shares of the company's stock worth $2,766,014,000 after purchasing an additional 1,171,975 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.55% of the company's stock.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of JNJ traded down $2.08 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $165.18. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,882,115 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,023,639. The business has a fifty day moving average of $156.93 and a 200 day moving average of $156.30. The company has a market cap of $397.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.41. 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 0.76, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The company reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $23.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.85 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 25.00%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.82 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 26th will be issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 26th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.15%. Johnson & Johnson's dividend payout ratio is 55.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $171.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Benchmark upgraded Johnson & Johnson to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reduced their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $174.50.

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.