Ignite Planners LLC Raises Stock Position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Ignite Planners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 13.7% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 6,453 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 776 shares during the period. Ignite Planners LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $997,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 13.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 51,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,502,000 after purchasing an additional 6,332 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Value Partners LLC boosted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Hudson Value Partners LLC now owns 41,403 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,648,000 after purchasing an additional 1,022 shares during the period. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. United Services Automobile Association lifted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 443,687 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,166,000 after purchasing an additional 12,206 shares during the period. Finally, Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC boosted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC now owns 89,712 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,974,000 after purchasing an additional 4,041 shares in the last quarter. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on JNJ. Bank of America lifted their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $161.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Johnson & Johnson from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $157.00 to $172.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $171.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered Johnson & Johnson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $190.00 target price (up from $180.00) on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $172.87.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of Johnson & Johnson stock opened at $164.38 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.26. Johnson & Johnson has a 52-week low of $140.68 and a 52-week high of $169.99. The stock has a market cap of $395.51 billion, a PE ratio of 17.58, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.41. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $154.29 and a 200-day moving average of $155.12.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The company reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.09. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 25.00% and a return on equity of 33.07%. The company had revenue of $23.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.82 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 26th will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 26th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.16%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.61%.

Johnson & Johnson Company Profile

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.