Welch & Forbes LLC Cuts Holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Welch & Forbes LLC lowered its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 0.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 687,197 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,409 shares during the quarter. Johnson & Johnson accounts for approximately 1.5% of Welch & Forbes LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $113,965,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of JNJ. Altman Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 3.7% in the first quarter. Altman Advisors Inc. now owns 10,351 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,618,000 after buying an additional 367 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 0.6% in the first quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 344,647 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,156,000 after purchasing an additional 2,223 shares during the period. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,130 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,017,000 after buying an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 23.9% in the 1st quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC now owns 9,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,558,000 after buying an additional 1,812 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DDD Partners LLC raised its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 50.5% during the 1st quarter. DDD Partners LLC now owns 145,274 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,092,000 after acquiring an additional 48,774 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Up 6.2%

NYSE:JNJ opened at $164.78 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market cap of $396.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.41. Johnson & Johnson has a fifty-two week low of $140.68 and a fifty-two week high of $169.99. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $153.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $154.71.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The company reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.09. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 33.46% and a net margin of 24.42%. The business had revenue of $23.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.85 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.82 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 26th will be issued a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.16%. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is 57.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Leerink Partners cut Johnson & Johnson from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $169.00 to $153.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $171.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $181.00 price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Johnson & Johnson currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $171.00.

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.