Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE Purchases New Position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE purchased a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 41,281 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,846,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in JNJ. Lantz Financial LLC lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 3.3% in the first quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 11,974 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,986,000 after acquiring an additional 377 shares during the last quarter. Sulzberger Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter worth approximately $453,000. Horan Securities Inc. increased its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Horan Securities Inc. now owns 7,178 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,038,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 57.9% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 3,467 shares of the company's stock valued at $501,000 after acquiring an additional 1,271 shares during the period. Finally, State of Wyoming raised its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 205,580.0% in the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 10,284 shares of the company's stock worth $1,487,000 after buying an additional 10,279 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.55% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on JNJ shares. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $166.00 to $165.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Bank of America cut their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $171.00 to $159.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Leerink Partners lowered shares of Johnson & Johnson from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $169.00 to $153.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Leerink Partnrs downgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Johnson & Johnson from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned 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 Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE JNJ traded up $0.24 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $156.90. 6,587,488 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,947,702. Johnson & Johnson has a 12-month low of $140.68 and a 12-month high of $169.99. The firm has a market cap of $377.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $153.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $153.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.65 billion. As a group, analysts expect 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 was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were paid a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 27th. This is a boost from Johnson & Johnson's previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. Johnson & Johnson's dividend payout ratio is 57.84%.

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.