Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Acquires 653 Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 3.6% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 18,919 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 653 shares during the quarter. Johnson & Johnson comprises 0.9% of Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $2,765,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of JNJ. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners raised its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners now owns 2,666 shares of the company’s stock worth $418,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd. now owns 54,535 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,548,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,995 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,821,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter worth approximately $248,000. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $22,821,000. 69.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on JNJ. Daiwa America lowered Johnson & Johnson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered shares of Johnson & Johnson from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $160.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $175.00 price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. StockNews.com upgraded Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $167.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Johnson & Johnson presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $173.21.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Up 0.1 %

JNJ opened at $159.60 on Tuesday. Johnson & Johnson has a 12 month low of $143.13 and a 12 month high of $169.85. The company has a market cap of $384.11 billion, a PE ratio of 9.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The company has a 50 day moving average of $152.63 and a 200 day moving average of $153.07.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The company reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.71 by $0.11. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 36.60% and a net margin of 46.34%. The firm had revenue of $22.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.33 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.80 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.07 EPS for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th will be given a dividend of $1.24 per share. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 27th. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.