Johnson & Johnson $JNJ Stake Decreased by Essex LLC

Essex LLC lessened its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 3.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 24,291 shares of the company’s stock after selling 754 shares during the quarter. Essex LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $3,710,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 233,962,679 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,800,371,000 after acquiring an additional 1,170,120 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 0.4% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 30,943,820 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,131,723,000 after acquiring an additional 130,645 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 26.4% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 23,182,464 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,844,580,000 after acquiring an additional 4,842,582 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Johnson & Johnson by 3.9% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,899,263 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,133,602,000 after buying an additional 712,181 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Johnson & Johnson by 2.5% in the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 18,282,410 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,031,955,000 after buying an additional 448,666 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

JNJ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $186.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Guggenheim upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $167.00 to $206.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $209.00 price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Johnson & Johnson currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.59.

Insider Activity

In other Johnson & Johnson news, EVP Jennifer L. Taubert sold 56,471 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.81, for a total transaction of $10,041,108.51. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 178,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,652,491.53. This trade represents a 24.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Up 0.6%

Johnson & Johnson stock opened at $193.27 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $180.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $164.80. Johnson & Johnson has a 52 week low of $140.68 and a 52 week high of $194.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $465.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.40.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 30th. The company reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $24.02 billion during the quarter. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 27.26% and a return on equity of 33.08%. Research analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 25th will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 25th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.61%.

Johnson & Johnson Profile

Johnson & Johnson is a holding company, which engages in the research, development, manufacture, and sale of products in the healthcare field. It operates through the Innovative Medicine and MedTech segments. The Innovative Medicine segment focuses on immunology, infectious diseases, neuroscience, oncology, cardiovascular and metabolism, and pulmonary hypertension.