Empirical Finance LLC Sells 1,275 Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Empirical Finance LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 84,159 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,275 shares during the quarter. Johnson & Johnson comprises 0.7% of Empirical Finance LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $12,171,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 20,130.0% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,454,473 shares of the company’s stock valued at $559,832,000 after buying an additional 3,437,397 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in Johnson & Johnson by 228.1% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,389,361 shares of the company’s stock valued at $549,223,000 after acquiring an additional 2,356,359 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 11.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 16,840,069 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,721,355,000 after acquiring an additional 1,729,281 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the 3rd quarter worth about $225,040,000. Finally, FMR LLC grew its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,316,920 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,968,440,000 after purchasing an additional 1,265,748 shares during the last quarter. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

JNJ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $175.00 to $163.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Guggenheim upped their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $162.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Argus upgraded Johnson & Johnson to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Leerink Partners reduced their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $182.00 to $169.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $155.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $170.67.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE JNJ opened at $156.18 on Wednesday. Johnson & Johnson has a 1-year low of $140.68 and a 1-year high of $168.85. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $147.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $156.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $376.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $22.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.44 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 18.20% and a return on equity of 34.35%. The company’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.29 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $1.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.18%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.59%.

Insider Transactions at Johnson & Johnson

In other Johnson & Johnson news, Director Mark A. Weinberger purchased 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $147.22 per share, for a total transaction of $147,220.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 1,000 shares in the company, valued at $147,220. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 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.