Freestone Grove Partners LP Buys New Position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 14,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,142,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of JNJ. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 10.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,472,312 shares of the company's stock valued at $562,723,000 after buying an additional 329,473 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 16,840,069 shares of the company's stock worth $2,721,355,000 after acquiring an additional 1,729,281 shares in the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new stake in Johnson & Johnson during the third quarter worth approximately $406,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 27.8% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 4,678 shares of the company's stock valued at $677,000 after acquiring an additional 1,019 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 6,424,675 shares of the company's stock valued at $926,438,000 after buying an additional 775,490 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.55% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

JNJ has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, January 25th. Benchmark raised shares of Johnson & Johnson to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of 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. Raymond James lowered their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $155.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $171.82.

Insider Activity at Johnson & Johnson

In other news, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total transaction of $62,928.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,357,552.70. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.88, for a total transaction of $1,160,994.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 21,001 shares in the company, valued at $3,483,645.88. This trade represents a 25.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

Shares of JNJ stock traded up $1.63 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $156.09. 5,973,317 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,885,287. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market cap of $375.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.49. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $158.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $154.54. Johnson & Johnson has a twelve month low of $140.68 and a twelve month high of $169.99.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.18. The company 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 18.20% and a return on equity of 34.24%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 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.