Sachetta LLC Grows Position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Sachetta LLC lifted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,599 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 802 shares during the period. Sachetta LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $1,232,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of JNJ. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Johnson & Johnson during the first quarter valued at $765,000. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 46.7% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 101,237 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,015,000 after buying an additional 32,244 shares during the last quarter. Payden & Rygel Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the 1st quarter valued at about $14,379,000. Mattern Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 6.9% in the first quarter. Mattern Capital Management LLC now owns 48,191 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,623,000 after buying an additional 3,091 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Shell Asset Management Co. grew its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 9.7% during the first quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 17,728 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,804,000 after acquiring an additional 1,562 shares during the period. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on JNJ. Citigroup raised their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $163.00 to $166.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $178.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Daiwa America lowered Johnson & Johnson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $169.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Johnson & Johnson presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $175.94.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE:JNJ opened at $152.97 on Wednesday. Johnson & Johnson has a 1 year low of $143.13 and a 1 year high of $168.85. The stock has a market cap of $368.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 1.03. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $160.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $156.19.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The company reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.21. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 19.14% and a return on equity of 35.45%. The company had revenue of $22.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.66 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Johnson & Johnson will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a $1.24 dividend. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is currently 71.78%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Robert J. Decker sold 5,635 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.06, for a total value of $930,113.10. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,973 shares in the company, valued at $3,131,683.38. This represents a 22.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Johnson & Johnson Company 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.