Channel Wealth LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Channel Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 3.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,813 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. Channel Wealth LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $798,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of JNJ. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,390,037,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,339,878,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 24,450.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,215,367 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,196,596,000 after buying an additional 7,185,977 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 134.5% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 7,948,508 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,149,536,000 after buying an additional 4,559,147 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 12.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 30,813,175 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,456,201,000 after buying an additional 3,363,235 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on JNJ shares. Barclays dropped their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $166.00 to $165.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Raymond James dropped their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Benchmark upgraded Johnson & Johnson to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Johnson & Johnson has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $170.88.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of JNJ stock opened at $153.39 on Thursday. Johnson & Johnson has a 1 year low of $140.68 and a 1 year high of $169.99. The stock has a market cap of $369.07 billion, a PE ratio of 23.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42. The business’s fifty day moving average is $153.81 and its 200-day moving average is $153.67. 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 issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 34.24% and a net margin of 18.20%. The company had revenue of $21.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.65 billion. Equities analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 27th. This is a boost from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.39%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.