Ehrlich Financial Group Acquires Shares of 1,208 Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Ehrlich Financial Group purchased a new position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 1,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $200,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. McNamara Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 13.8% in the first quarter. McNamara Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,265 shares of the company’s stock worth $376,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares during the period. Sandbox Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 51.5% in the first quarter. Sandbox Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $407,000 after acquiring an additional 834 shares during the last quarter. Prospect Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Johnson & Johnson in the first quarter valued at $268,000. Procyon Advisors LLC increased its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 14.6% in the first quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 62,994 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,300,000 after acquiring an additional 8,048 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Davis Capital Management increased its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 0.7% in the first quarter. Davis Capital Management now owns 10,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,748,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on JNJ shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Johnson & Johnson from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $157.00 to $172.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $166.00 to $165.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Wall Street Zen cut Johnson & Johnson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $181.00 price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $171.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $170.88.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

JNJ stock opened at $155.02 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $153.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $153.68. Johnson & Johnson has a 52-week low of $140.68 and a 52-week high of $169.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $372.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.31, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.18. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 18.20% and a return on equity of 34.24%. The firm had revenue of $21.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.65 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be issued a $1.30 dividend. This is a positive change from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 27th. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is presently 57.84%.

Johnson & Johnson 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.