Welch & Forbes LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Apr 27th, 2023

Welch & Forbes LLC trimmed its holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ – Get Rating) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 798,641 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,670 shares during the quarter. Johnson & Johnson makes up approximately 2.5% of Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $141,080,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. boosted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 291,101 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,423,000 after purchasing an additional 2,318 shares during the period. Resources Investment Advisors LLC. boosted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 90.7% in the 4th quarter. Resources Investment Advisors LLC. now owns 72,383 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,786,000 after purchasing an additional 34,423 shares during the period. Tobam boosted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 98.3% in the 4th quarter. Tobam now owns 143,858 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,413,000 after purchasing an additional 71,330 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. boosted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 156,319 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,614,000 after purchasing an additional 1,699 shares during the period. Finally, Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC boosted its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC now owns 55,957 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,885,000 after acquiring an additional 1,354 shares during the last quarter. 67.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $55.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Monday, February 6th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a “strong-buy” rating for the company. UBS Group assumed coverage on Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Tuesday, March 28th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $164.00 target price for the company. SVB Leerink lowered their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $194.00 to $186.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 20th. Finally, Guggenheim assumed coverage on Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Tuesday, February 28th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $161.00 target price for the company. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $173.00.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

JNJ stock opened at $162.62 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $157.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $167.00. Johnson & Johnson has a twelve month low of $150.11 and a twelve month high of $184.82. The firm has a market cap of $423.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.02, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.53.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 18th. The company reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.51 by $0.17. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 35.53% and a net margin of 13.22%. The business had revenue of $24.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.61 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.67 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 23rd will be paid a $1.19 dividend. This is a positive change from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 22nd. This represents a $4.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.93%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 94.56%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider James D. Swanson sold 1,062 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.66, for a total transaction of $164,248.92. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 9,215 shares in the company, valued at $1,425,191.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Johnson & Johnson Profile

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Johnson & Johnson is a holding company, which engages in the research and development, manufacture and sale of products in the health care field. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Health, Pharmaceutical, and MedTech. The Consumer Health segment includes products focused on personal healthcare used in the Skin Health/Beauty, Over-the-Counter medicines, Baby Care, Oral Care, Women’s Health and Wound Care markets.