Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Acquires 52,961 Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Free Report) by 0.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,044,313 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 52,961 shares during the period. Johnson & Johnson makes up 0.7% of Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned about 0.25% of Johnson & Johnson worth $1,002,389,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lantz Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 11,974 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,986,000 after buying an additional 377 shares in the last quarter. Sulzberger Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Johnson & Johnson during the 4th quarter worth approximately $453,000. Horan Securities Inc. grew its position in Johnson & Johnson by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Horan Securities Inc. now owns 7,178 shares of the company's stock worth $1,038,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming grew its position in Johnson & Johnson by 205,580.0% during the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 10,284 shares of the company's stock worth $1,487,000 after acquiring an additional 10,279 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Range Financial Group LLC grew its position in Johnson & Johnson by 18.9% during the 1st quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 15,886 shares of the company's stock worth $2,635,000 after acquiring an additional 2,529 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.55% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on JNJ. Raymond James Financial dropped their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Johnson & Johnson from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $157.00 to $172.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $166.00 to $165.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Johnson & Johnson from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, June 21st. Finally, Leerink Partners cut Johnson & Johnson from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $169.00 to $153.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $170.88.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

NYSE:JNJ traded up $3.06 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $155.81. 10,894,899 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,034,352. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $153.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $153.86. Johnson & Johnson has a one year low of $140.68 and a one year high of $169.99. 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 firm has a market cap of $374.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.42.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.18. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 33.46% and a net margin of 24.42%. The business had revenue of $21.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.65 billion. Research analysts anticipate that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 is a positive change from Johnson & Johnson's previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.34%. 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.