Clarius Group LLC Raises Holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Clarius Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 31,395 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,303 shares during the quarter. Clarius Group LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $5,197,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nwam LLC lifted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 25.7% in the 2nd quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 33,807 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,596,000 after buying an additional 6,916 shares during the period. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 35,054 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,802,000 after buying an additional 1,509 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 149,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,766,000 after buying an additional 3,682 shares during the period. Meitav Investment House Ltd. lifted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 8,361 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,369,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the period. Finally, King Wealth lifted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. King Wealth now owns 53,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,780,000 after buying an additional 848 shares during the period. 68.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Up 0.9 %

Johnson & Johnson stock opened at $149.91 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $154.52 and a 200 day moving average of $160.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $360.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.58. Johnson & Johnson has a 12-month low of $144.95 and a 12-month high of $181.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 17th. The company reported $2.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.14. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 36.32% and a return on equity of 37.14%. The firm had revenue of $21.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $1.19 per share. This represents a $4.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 20th. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio is 35.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on JNJ. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $195.00 to $186.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 31st. HSBC began coverage on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Wednesday, September 6th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $175.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $174.00 to $171.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 18th. TheStreet cut shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada started coverage on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Wednesday, October 4th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $178.00 target price on the stock. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $169.19.

Johnson & Johnson Company Profile

Johnson & Johnson, together with its subsidiaries, researches, develops, manufactures, and sells various products in the healthcare field worldwide. The company's Consumer Health segment provides skin health/beauty products under the AVEENO, CLEAN & CLEAR, DR. CI:LABO, NEUTROGENA, and OGX brands; baby care products under the JOHNSON'S and AVEENO Baby brands; oral care products under the LISTERINE brand; TYLENOL acetaminophen products; SUDAFED cold, flu, and allergy products; BENADRYL and ZYRTEC allergy products; MOTRIN IB ibuprofen products; NICORETTE smoking cessation products; and PEPCID acid reflux products.