Verus Financial Partners Inc. Sells 236 Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Verus Financial Partners Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 4.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,583 shares of the company’s stock after selling 236 shares during the period. Verus Financial Partners Inc.’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $725,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. New Republic Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. New Republic Capital LLC now owns 4,612 shares of the company’s stock worth $730,000 after buying an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. Ardent Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 0.4% in the first quarter. Ardent Capital Management Inc. now owns 149,505 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,650,000 after purchasing an additional 566 shares during the last quarter. Delta Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 0.9% in the first quarter. Delta Financial Advisors LLC now owns 25,082 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,968,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 26.6% in the first quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC now owns 12,082 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,911,000 after purchasing an additional 2,538 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 2.4% in the first quarter. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. now owns 1,860,821 shares of the company’s stock valued at $294,363,000 after purchasing an additional 44,207 shares during the last quarter. 69.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $175.00 price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $168.00 to $167.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. StockNews.com upgraded Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 30th. HSBC upgraded Johnson & Johnson from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $169.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $180.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.07.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

Shares of Johnson & Johnson stock traded up $4.03 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $155.04. The stock had a trading volume of 2,451,243 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,226,237. The firm has a market cap of $373.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.52. Johnson & Johnson has a 12 month low of $143.13 and a 12 month high of $175.97. The business’s 50-day moving average is $148.00 and its 200 day moving average is $153.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The company reported $2.82 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $22.33 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 36.70%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.80 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.49 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 paid a $1.24 dividend. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.20%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.