Rhumbline Advisers Sells 56,456 Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Rhumbline Advisers decreased its holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Free Report) by 1.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,158,076 shares of the company's stock after selling 56,456 shares during the quarter. Johnson & Johnson makes up 0.6% of Rhumbline Advisers' portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Rhumbline Advisers owned 0.17% of Johnson & Johnson worth $689,575,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Johnson & Johnson by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 232,792,559 shares of the company's stock worth $33,666,460,000 after purchasing an additional 1,772,706 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 57,667,920 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,321,881,000 after purchasing an additional 1,561,036 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 12.3% in 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. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter valued at $4,390,037,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,356,572 shares of the company's stock worth $3,522,447,000 after acquiring an additional 431,205 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.55% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

JNJ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Leerink Partnrs cut shares of Johnson & Johnson from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Benchmark upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $164.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Wall Street Zen cut Johnson & Johnson from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $181.00 target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $170.88.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of Johnson & Johnson stock traded down $0.95 on Tuesday, hitting $154.45. 8,204,223 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,367,275. Johnson & Johnson has a 12-month low of $140.68 and a 12-month high of $169.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $371.63 billion, a PE ratio of 23.23, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $154.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $153.67.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.18. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 34.24% and a net margin of 18.20%. The firm had revenue of $21.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.65 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 27th. This is a positive change from Johnson & Johnson's previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. Johnson & Johnson's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.