Ethos Financial Group LLC Decreases Stock Position in Johnson & Johnson $JNJ

Ethos Financial Group LLC trimmed its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 49.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,057 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,927 shares during the quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $1,384,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Johnson & Johnson during the first quarter worth about $1,369,188,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 1,382.0% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,030,084 shares of the company’s stock worth $502,509,000 after purchasing an additional 2,825,626 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 159.6% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,159,260 shares of the company’s stock worth $635,327,000 after purchasing an additional 2,557,388 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the second quarter valued at approximately $401,420,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 14.4% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 16,903,105 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,803,042,000 after purchasing an additional 2,129,612 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on JNJ. Johnson Rice set a $190.00 target price on Johnson & Johnson and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Guggenheim raised shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $167.00 to $206.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective 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. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $213.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Johnson & Johnson currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.05.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of JNJ stock opened at $186.92 on Friday. Johnson & Johnson has a 1-year low of $140.68 and a 1-year high of $194.48. The firm has a market cap of $450.33 billion, a PE ratio of 18.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a 50-day moving average of $184.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $168.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last issued 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 for the quarter. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 27.26% and a return on equity of 32.73%. On average, analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 25th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. 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 2.8%. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is presently 50.19%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Jennifer L. Taubert sold 56,471 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.81, for a total transaction of $10,041,108.51. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 178,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,652,491.53. This represents a 24.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

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.