Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Position Cut by Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. trimmed its holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 97.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,772 shares of the company’s stock after selling 232,300 shares during the quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $1,123,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 13.9% in 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 during the period. Hudson Value Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Hudson Value Partners LLC now owns 41,403 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,648,000 after acquiring an additional 1,022 shares during the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the 4th quarter valued at $279,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the 4th quarter valued at $665,000. Finally, American Money Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. American Money Management LLC now owns 37,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,409,000 after purchasing an additional 3,148 shares in the last quarter. 69.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $157.00 to $172.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $181.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Benchmark upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.50.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of JNJ opened at $168.29 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $404.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $156.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $155.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. Johnson & Johnson has a 12 month low of $140.68 and a 12 month high of $169.99.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The company reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $23.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.85 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 25.00% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company’s revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.82 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 26th will be issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 26th. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is 55.61%.

Johnson & Johnson 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.