Main Street Research LLC Trims Stock Position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Main Street Research LLC decreased its position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,056 shares of the company’s stock after selling 702 shares during the quarter. Main Street Research LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $1,616,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,071,642,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,019,725 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,764,852,000 after purchasing an additional 3,391,657 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 16.8% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 21,834,359 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,453,978,000 after buying an additional 3,139,499 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 15,945,533 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,483,532,000 after purchasing an additional 241,799 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,169,190 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,593,908,000 after buying an additional 975,485 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Daiwa Capital Markets cut shares of Johnson & Johnson from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $160.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $161.00 to $171.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. TD Securities lowered their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $195.00 to $185.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $175.00 price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $215.00 price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $173.21.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

Shares of JNJ stock traded up $1.63 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $165.86. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,441,042 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,271,470. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. Johnson & Johnson has a fifty-two week low of $143.13 and a fifty-two week high of $165.98. The company has a market capitalization of $399.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.34, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.52. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $155.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $153.45.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The company reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.71 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $22.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.33 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 36.60% and a net margin of 46.34%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.80 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th will be issued a $1.24 dividend. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 27th. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.92%.

Johnson & Johnson Profile

Johnson & Johnson, together with its subsidiaries, researches, develops, manufactures, and sells various products in the healthcare field worldwide. The company's Innovative Medicine segment offers products for various therapeutic areas, such as immunology, including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and psoriasis; infectious diseases comprising HIV/AIDS; neuroscience, consisting of mood disorders, neurodegenerative disorders, and schizophrenia; oncology, such as prostate cancer, hematologic malignancies, lung cancer, and bladder cancer; cardiovascular and metabolism, including thrombosis, diabetes, and macular degeneration; and pulmonary hypertension comprising pulmonary arterial hypertension through retailers, wholesalers, distributors, hospitals, and healthcare professionals for prescription use.