Liberty Capital Management Inc. Raises Position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Liberty Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 3.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 6,205 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 227 shares during the period. Liberty Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $1,029,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. MRP Capital Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. MRP Capital Investments LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the company’s stock worth $237,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Syverson Strege & Co grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 1,394 shares of the company’s stock worth $202,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management now owns 2,080 shares of the company’s stock worth $301,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Denali Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 5,128 shares of the company’s stock worth $742,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Finally, Sage Mountain Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 14,564 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,106,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. 69.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on JNJ. Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Benchmark upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs lowered shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Johnson & Johnson has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $170.88.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

JNJ stock opened at $156.61 on Friday. Johnson & Johnson has a one year low of $140.68 and a one year high of $169.99. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $153.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $153.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.11. The company has a market capitalization of $376.82 billion, a PE ratio of 23.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.65 billion. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th were paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This is an increase from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.32%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.84%.

About Johnson & Johnson

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.