Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Shares Acquired by Commonwealth Equity Services LLC

Key Points

• Commonwealth Equity Services LLC has increased its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 0.8%, owning approximately 1.69 million shares worth $280.4 million after recent acquisitions.
• Brokerage firms are adjusting their ratings on Johnson & Johnson, with a notable downgrade from Leerink Partners and an increased price target from UBS Group, reflecting mixed analyst sentiment.
• Johnson & Johnson announced a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share, representing a yield of 3.1% and confirming a healthy dividend payout ratio of 55.61%.

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Free Report) by 0.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,691,034 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 13,270 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC owned about 0.07% of Johnson & Johnson worth $280,441,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Lantz Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 3.3% in the first quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 11,974 shares of the company's stock worth $1,986,000 after purchasing an additional 377 shares during the period. Sulzberger Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter valued at about $453,000. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC lifted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC now owns 74,132 shares of the company's stock valued at $12,294,000 after acquiring an additional 2,526 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming lifted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 205,580.0% in the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 10,284 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,487,000 after acquiring an additional 10,279 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Range Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 18.9% in the 1st quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 15,886 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,635,000 after acquiring an additional 2,529 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.55% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on JNJ. Leerink Partnrs downgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Leerink Partners downgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and cut their price target for the company from $169.00 to $153.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Johnson & Johnson from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $161.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $174.50.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Up 1.6%

NYSE:JNJ opened at $167.33 on Friday. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $157.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $156.68. Johnson & Johnson has a 52 week low of $140.68 and a 52 week high of $169.99. The company has a market capitalization of $402.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.01.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The company reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $23.74 billion for 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 firm's revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.82 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 26th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 26th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Johnson & Johnson's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.

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