Palouse Capital Management Inc. cuts its stock holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Palouse Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ – Get a rating) by 1.5% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The company held 24,988 shares of the company after selling 372 shares during the period. Johnson & Johnson accounts for 1.9% of Palouse Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th-highest position. Palouse Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $4,429,000 when it last filed with the SEC.

A number of other major investors have also recently changed their holdings in JNJ. Edge Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Edge Wealth Management LLC now owns 86,628 shares of the company valued at $14,819,000 after acquiring an additional 584 shares last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP increased its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 2,404 shares of the company valued at $412,000 after acquiring 108 additional shares last quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. increased its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. now owns 32,627 shares of the company valued at $5,581,000 after acquiring 317 additional shares last quarter. United Capital Management of KS Inc. increased its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. United Capital Management of KS Inc. now owns 23,940 shares of the company valued at $4,095,000 after acquiring 957 additional shares last quarter. Finally, Miracle Mile Advisors LLC increased its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 48,199 shares of the company valued at $8,245,000 after acquiring 2,249 additional shares last quarter. 68.78% of the shares are held by institutional investors.

Shares of JNJ opened at $178.28 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $469.13 billion, a price-earnings ratio of 24.03, a PEG ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.39. Johnson & Johnson has a fifty-two week low of $155.72 and a fifty-two week high of $186.69. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $176.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $174.10.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ – Get a rating) last released its quarterly results on Tuesday, April 19. The company reported EPS of $2.67 for the quarter, beating consensus analyst estimates of $2.60 by $0.07. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 20.90% and a return on equity of 36.59%. The company posted revenue of $23.43 billion in the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.62 billion. During the same period a year earlier, the company posted EPS of $2.59. The company’s revenues increased by 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equity research analysts expect Johnson & Johnson to post earnings per share of 10.23 for the current year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 7. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 24 received a dividend of $1.13 per share. This is a positive change from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.06. This represents a dividend of $4.52 on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 23. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio is currently 60.92%.

In other Johnson & Johnson news, CAO Robert J. Decker sold 8,462 shares of the company in a trade Thursday, May 26. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total value of $1,523,160.00. Following completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,473 shares of the company, valued at approximately $2,785,140. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, accessible via the SEC website. Also, insider William Haiti sold 29,699 shares of the company in a trade on Thursday, April 21. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.58, for a total transaction of $5,452,142.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 80,236 shares of the company, valued at $14,729,724.88. Disclosure of this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 78,161 shares of the company valued at $13,895,302 during the last quarter. 0.35% of the shares are currently held by insiders of the company.

A number of research companies have commented on JNJ. StockNews.com moved Johnson & Johnson shares from a “buy” rating to a “strong buy” rating in a Tuesday, May 17 research note. Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Johnson & Johnson shares from $173.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Raymond James raised his price target on Johnson & Johnson shares from $195.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a Wednesday, April 20 research note. Goldman Sachs Group raised its price target on Johnson & Johnson shares from $163.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a Tuesday, April 12 research note. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets began covering Johnson & Johnson shares in a Wednesday June 22 research note. They gave the company an “outperform” rating. Four analysts gave the stock a hold rating, six gave the company a buy rating and one gave the company’s stock a strong buy rating. Based on MarketBeat data, Johnson & Johnson currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $190.67.

Johnson & Johnson profile (Get a rating)

Johnson & Johnson, together with its subsidiaries, researches and develops, manufactures and sells various healthcare products worldwide. The Company’s Consumer Health segment offers baby care products under the JOHNSON’S and AVEENO Baby brands; oral care products under the LISTERINE brand; skin health/beauty products under the brands AVEENO, CLEAN & CLEAR, DR.

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