Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC Purchases New Shares in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 933,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $135,043,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 232,792,559 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,666,460,000 after purchasing an additional 1,772,706 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 57,667,920 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,321,881,000 after buying an additional 1,561,036 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 12.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 30,813,175 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,456,201,000 after acquiring an additional 3,363,235 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,390,037,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,356,572 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,522,447,000 after purchasing an additional 431,205 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on JNJ. StockNews.com raised Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 25th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $181.00 price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $157.00 to $172.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Benchmark raised Johnson & Johnson to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Raymond James reduced their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $171.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total transaction of $62,928.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,357,552.70. This trade represents a 2.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.88, for a total value of $1,160,994.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 21,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,483,645.88. This trade represents a 25.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

Shares of NYSE JNJ opened at $153.98 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $157.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $154.23. The stock has a market cap of $370.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42. Johnson & Johnson has a twelve month low of $140.68 and a twelve month high of $169.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $2.77 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $21.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.65 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 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 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.38%. This is an increase from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is currently 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.