Provident Wealth Management LLC Sells 259 Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Provident Wealth Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 12.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,882 shares of the company’s stock after selling 259 shares during the period. Provident Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $275,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter worth $4,071,642,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Johnson & Johnson by 16.4% during 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 lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 16.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 21,834,359 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,453,978,000 after acquiring an additional 3,139,499 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position 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 buying an additional 241,799 shares during the period. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System raised its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 10,620,264 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,664,620,000 after acquiring an additional 498,647 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on JNJ. HSBC raised shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $169.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Bank of America decreased their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $180.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered shares of Johnson & Johnson from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $160.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Daiwa America cut shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $173.21.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

JNJ stock traded up $0.62 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $159.10. 7,237,481 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,355,802. The firm has a market cap of $382.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.90, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.52. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $151.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $153.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Johnson & Johnson has a 1-year low of $143.13 and a 1-year high of $175.39.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The company reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.71 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $22.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.33 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 46.34% and a return on equity of 36.60%. Johnson & Johnson’s revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.80 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th will be paid a dividend of $1.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.12%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.92%.

Johnson & Johnson Company 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.