CENTRAL TRUST Co Sells 4,377 Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

CENTRAL TRUST Co lessened its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 2.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 156,199 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,377 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $24,709,000 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. Tower View Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 183.3% during the 3rd quarter. Tower View Wealth Management LLC now owns 255 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Keener Financial Planning LLC bought a new position in Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 61.4% during the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 255 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Disciplined Equity Management Inc. bought a new stake in Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $180.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. HSBC upgraded Johnson & Johnson from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $169.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $215.00 price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Monday, May 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $168.00 to $167.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Seven 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $175.86.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of Johnson & Johnson stock traded up $2.28 on Wednesday, reaching $153.52. 6,608,309 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,354,839. The company has a market capitalization of $369.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.57, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Johnson & Johnson has a one year low of $143.13 and a one year high of $175.97. The company has a 50-day moving average of $151.73 and a 200 day moving average of $155.11.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The company reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $21.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.39 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 36.70%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.68 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.64 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 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 21st will be paid a dividend of $1.24 per share. This is an increase from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.19. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 20th. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is currently 30.92%.

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 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.