Meitav Investment House Ltd. Purchases 600 Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Meitav Investment House Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 8.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,507 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. Meitav Investment House Ltd.’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $1,176,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co boosted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 8.6% in the 1st quarter. DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co now owns 67,618 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,975,000 after purchasing an additional 5,327 shares in the last quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisor L.P lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 88.9% in the 1st quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisor L.P now owns 175,194 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,049,000 after purchasing an additional 82,429 shares during the last quarter. AMI Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 8.8% in the first quarter. AMI Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,305 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,244,000 after buying an additional 1,475 shares in the last quarter. Equitable Holdings Inc. grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 4.9% during the first quarter. Equitable Holdings Inc. now owns 45,673 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,095,000 after buying an additional 2,119 shares during the last quarter. Finally, USS Investment Management Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 2.4% during the first quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd now owns 860,371 shares of the company’s stock worth $152,488,000 after buying an additional 20,528 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on JNJ shares. StockNews.com upgraded Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Bank of America reduced their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $180.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $169.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $172.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $215.00 price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Monday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $176.36.

Insider Activity at Johnson & Johnson

In other Johnson & Johnson news, EVP Jennifer L. Taubert sold 59,397 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.27, for a total value of $9,281,969.19. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 141,416 shares in the company, valued at $22,099,078.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Johnson & Johnson news, EVP Jennifer L. Taubert sold 59,397 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.27, for a total value of $9,281,969.19. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 141,416 shares in the company, valued at $22,099,078.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder & Johnson Johnson sold 3,725 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.81, for a total value of $96,142.25. Following the sale, the insider now owns 4,099,575 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $105,810,030.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

JNJ stock opened at $144.77 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $156.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $155.74. Johnson & Johnson has a 12-month low of $143.39 and a 12-month high of $175.97. The firm has a market cap of $348.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.48, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.53.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The company reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $0.07. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 37.27% and a net margin of 37.79%. The company had revenue of $21.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.68 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 21st will be paid a $1.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 20th. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.43%. This is a positive change from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.19. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is currently 34.47%.

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.