Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Key Points

• Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 143.8% in Q1, owning 44,600 shares valued at approximately $7.4 million.
• Johnson & Johnson reported earnings of $2.77 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding estimates of $2.68, with revenues of $23.74 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share, yielding 3.09%, to be paid on September 9th.

Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Free Report) by 143.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 44,600 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 26,304 shares during the quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $7,396,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on JNJ shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Johnson & Johnson from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $157.00 to $172.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating and set a $167.00 price target (up from $164.00) on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Barclays boosted their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Benchmark upgraded Johnson & Johnson to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Johnson & Johnson has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $174.50.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Down 0.7%

JNJ traded down $1.18 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $166.08. 2,980,538 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,020,615. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $399.97 billion, a PE ratio of 17.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $156.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $156.30. Johnson & Johnson has a 1 year low of $140.68 and a 1 year high of $169.99.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $23.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.85 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 25.00% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company's revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.82 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 26th will be issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 26th. Johnson & Johnson's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.