Colonial River Investments LLC Reduces Holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Colonial River Investments LLC cut its holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Free Report) by 61.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,995 shares of the company's stock after selling 6,418 shares during the period. Colonial River Investments LLC's holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $663,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,390,037,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,339,878,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 24,450.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,215,367 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,196,596,000 after buying an additional 7,185,977 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 134.5% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 7,948,508 shares of the company's stock worth $1,149,536,000 after buying an additional 4,559,147 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 12.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 30,813,175 shares of the company's stock worth $4,456,201,000 after buying an additional 3,363,235 shares during the period. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on JNJ shares. Benchmark raised Johnson & Johnson to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Raymond James Financial cut their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, June 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded 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 note on Wednesday, April 9th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $170.88.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

Shares of Johnson & Johnson stock traded up $0.34 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $155.90. 3,477,913 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,027,928. The business has a fifty day moving average of $153.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $153.88. 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 company has a market capitalization of $375.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.41. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.18. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 24.42% and a return on equity of 33.46%. The company had revenue of $21.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $21.65 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.34%. This is a positive change from Johnson & Johnson's previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. Johnson & Johnson's payout ratio is 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.