PineStone Asset Management Inc. Acquires 358,580 Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 24.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,853,558 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 358,580 shares during the period. Johnson & Johnson makes up approximately 3.1% of PineStone Asset Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. PineStone Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $290,527,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of JNJ. Keener Financial Planning LLC bought a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Tower View Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 183.3% in the third quarter. Tower View Wealth Management LLC now owns 255 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 61.4% during the 4th quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 255 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Disciplined Equity Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd grew its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 37.8% in the third quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on JNJ. StockNews.com raised Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $215.00 price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Monday, May 6th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $180.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $175.00 price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $168.00 to $167.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $175.86.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

Shares of JNJ opened at $151.25 on Wednesday. Johnson & Johnson has a 12 month low of $143.13 and a 12 month high of $175.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company has a market capitalization of $364.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.43, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.55. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $151.88 and a 200 day moving average of $155.12.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The company reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $0.07. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 36.70%. The firm had revenue of $21.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.68 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 21st will be given a $1.24 dividend. This is a positive change from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.19. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 20th. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.92%.

Johnson & Johnson Profile

Johnson & Johnson, together with its subsidiaries, researches, develops, manufactures, and sells various products in the healthcare field worldwide. The company's Innovative Medicine segment offers products for various therapeutic areas, such as immunology, including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and psoriasis; infectious diseases comprising HIV/AIDS; neuroscience, consisting of mood disorders, neurodegenerative disorders, and schizophrenia; oncology, such as prostate cancer, hematologic malignancies, lung cancer, and bladder cancer; cardiovascular and metabolism, including thrombosis, diabetes, and macular degeneration; and pulmonary hypertension comprising pulmonary arterial hypertension through retailers, wholesalers, distributors, hospitals, and healthcare professionals for prescription use.