BNP Paribas Raises Stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

BNP Paribas boosted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 26.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,268 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 4,182 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas’ holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $2,924,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Sulzberger Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter worth about $453,000. Oregon Pacific Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter worth about $949,000. Horan Securities Inc. boosted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Horan Securities Inc. now owns 7,178 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,038,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 57.9% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 3,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $501,000 after purchasing an additional 1,271 shares during the period. Finally, KPP Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC now owns 11,492 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,662,000 after buying an additional 515 shares in the last quarter. 69.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $171.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $155.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $164.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Leerink Partners lowered their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $182.00 to $169.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Benchmark raised Johnson & Johnson to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $171.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Johnson & Johnson news, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total value of $62,928.45. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,357,552.70. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.88, for a total transaction of $1,160,994.12. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 21,001 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 corporate insiders.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

NYSE JNJ opened at $156.09 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $158.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $154.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market cap of $375.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.49. Johnson & Johnson has a 52-week low of $140.68 and a 52-week high of $169.99.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last released its quarterly 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 return on equity of 34.24% and a net margin of 18.20%. The business had revenue of $21.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.65 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.33%. This is a positive change from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 27th. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio 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.