Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Shares Sold by Park Place Capital Corp

Park Place Capital Corp reduced its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Free Report) by 31.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,775 shares of the company's stock after selling 2,164 shares during the period. Park Place Capital Corp's holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $792,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter valued at about $4,390,037,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,339,878,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 24,450.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,215,367 shares of the company's stock worth $1,196,596,000 after buying an additional 7,185,977 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 134.5% during the 4th 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 4th 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.55% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Johnson & Johnson from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $157.00 to $172.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Johnson & Johnson from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, June 21st. Leerink Partners downgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $169.00 to $153.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $164.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $170.88.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Up 0.1%

NYSE:JNJ traded up $0.17 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $152.58. The company had a trading volume of 9,000,581 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,022,908. The firm has a market capitalization of $367.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.97, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Johnson & Johnson has a 1 year low of $140.68 and a 1 year high of $169.99. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $153.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $153.81.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $21.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.65 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 24.42% and a return on equity of 33.46%. Equities 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This is a positive change from Johnson & Johnson's previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. Johnson & Johnson's dividend payout ratio is currently 57.84%.

Johnson & Johnson Company 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.