Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA Sells 447,210 Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA lowered its stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Free Report) by 74.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 157,007 shares of the company's stock after selling 447,210 shares during the quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA's holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $24,464,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in JNJ. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 232,792,559 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,666,460,000 after purchasing an additional 1,772,706 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 1,561,036 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in 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 bought a new stake in Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter valued at about $4,390,037,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,356,572 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,522,447,000 after acquiring an additional 431,205 shares in the last quarter. 69.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on JNJ. Morgan Stanley increased their target price 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. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Guggenheim reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Leerink Partners cut 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 note on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $171.00 to $159.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Eleven 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Johnson & Johnson presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $170.88.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE JNJ traded up $0.24 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $156.90. 6,587,488 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,947,693. The stock has a market cap of $377.52 billion, a PE ratio of 23.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42. Johnson & Johnson has a 52 week low of $140.68 and a 52 week high of $169.99. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $153.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $153.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $21.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.65 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 34.24% and a net margin of 18.20%. 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were issued a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 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.