Bank of New York Mellon Corp Purchases 4,842,582 Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Free Report) by 26.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,182,464 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 4,842,582 shares during the quarter. Johnson & Johnson accounts for about 0.8% of Bank of New York Mellon Corp's investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned 0.96% of Johnson & Johnson worth $3,844,580,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of JNJ. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new stake in Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new stake in Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.55% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Leerink Partners downgraded Johnson & Johnson from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $169.00 to $153.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Leerink Partnrs downgraded Johnson & Johnson from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Benchmark raised Johnson & Johnson to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $166.00 to $165.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Johnson & Johnson currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $170.88.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

NYSE JNJ traded down $0.78 during trading on Monday, hitting $155.23. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,263,851 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,052,571. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $153.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $154.17. The firm has a market cap of $373.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.41. Johnson & Johnson has a 52 week low of $140.68 and a 52 week high of $169.99.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $21.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.65 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 33.46% and a net margin of 24.42%. Equities research analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 27th. This is a boost from Johnson & Johnson's previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.35%. Johnson & Johnson's payout ratio is currently 57.84%.

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.