Blue Trust Inc. Increases Stock Position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 37.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 49,034 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,393 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $7,946,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in JNJ. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC grew its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 54.4% during the 1st quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC now owns 32,778 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,185,000 after purchasing an additional 11,548 shares during the last quarter. American National Bank grew its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. American National Bank now owns 73,938 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,696,000 after purchasing an additional 3,743 shares during the last quarter. M. Kraus & Co boosted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. M. Kraus & Co now owns 53,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,529,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 48,942 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,742,000 after buying an additional 1,476 shares during the period. Finally, Nexus Investment Management ULC lifted its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 9.1% in the 1st quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 8,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,325,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the period. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on JNJ. Daiwa Capital Markets cut shares of Johnson & Johnson from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $160.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 14th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $195.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $178.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $163.00 to $166.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $175.93.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

NYSE:JNJ opened at $165.13 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $162.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $154.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The company has a market cap of $397.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.52. Johnson & Johnson has a twelve month low of $143.13 and a twelve month high of $168.85.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $22.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.17 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 46.34% and a return on equity of 36.60%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.66 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a $1.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.00%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Robert J. Decker sold 5,635 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.06, for a total value of $930,113.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 18,973 shares in the company, valued at $3,131,683.38. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.