Eastern Bank Lowers Stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Eastern Bank trimmed its holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Free Report) by 16.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 69,127 shares of the company's stock after selling 13,881 shares during the quarter. Eastern Bank's holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $11,464,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Atlantic Family Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Atlantic Family Wealth LLC now owns 1,603 shares of the company's stock valued at $266,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. MBA Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. MBA Advisors LLC now owns 5,553 shares of the company's stock valued at $921,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,928 shares of the company's stock valued at $651,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Nabity Jensen Investment Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Nabity Jensen Investment Management Inc now owns 4,624 shares of the company's stock valued at $767,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 12,970 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,151,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

Shares of JNJ stock traded up $2.59 on Friday, reaching $167.33. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,914,735 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,077,193. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $157.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $156.44. Johnson & Johnson has a 1 year low of $140.68 and a 1 year high of $169.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The company has a market capitalization of $402.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.41.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The company reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.09. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 25.00% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm had revenue of $23.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.85 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.82 earnings per share. Johnson & Johnson's revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 26th will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 26th. Johnson & Johnson's payout ratio is presently 55.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on JNJ shares. Leerink Partners lowered shares of Johnson & Johnson from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and cut their target price for the company from $169.00 to $153.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Leerink Partnrs cut shares of Johnson & Johnson from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $157.00 to $172.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $174.50.

Johnson & Johnson Profile

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.