Meitav Investment House Ltd. Buys 600 Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Meitav Investment House Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 8.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,507 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 600 shares during the period. Meitav Investment House Ltd.’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $1,176,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 90,144.4% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 54,386,720 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,607,414,000 after purchasing an additional 54,326,454 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter worth $4,609,399,000. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 12.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 42,224,521 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,458,962,000 after buying an additional 4,521,062 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 61.0% during the second quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 11,287,765 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,868,351,000 after buying an additional 4,278,512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Imprint Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 17,087.7% in the second quarter. Imprint Wealth LLC now owns 2,913,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $291,348,000 after buying an additional 2,896,529 shares during the period. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on JNJ. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $172.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $169.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $180.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $215.00 target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com raised Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $176.36.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Johnson & Johnson news, EVP Jennifer L. Taubert sold 59,397 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.27, for a total transaction of $9,281,969.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 141,416 shares in the company, valued at $22,099,078.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Johnson & Johnson news, EVP Jennifer L. Taubert sold 59,397 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.27, for a total transaction of $9,281,969.19. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 141,416 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,099,078.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder & Johnson Johnson sold 3,725 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.81, for a total transaction of $96,142.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 4,099,575 shares in the company, valued at approximately $105,810,030.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

Shares of JNJ stock opened at $144.77 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock has a market cap of $348.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.48, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.53. The business’s fifty day moving average is $156.54 and its 200 day moving average is $155.74. Johnson & Johnson has a twelve month low of $143.39 and a twelve month high of $175.97.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last released its earnings results 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 37.79% and a return on equity of 37.27%. The firm had revenue of $21.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.68 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 boost 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 3.43%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 20th. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is currently 34.47%.

About Johnson & Johnson

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.