Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Stock Holdings Boosted by True North Advisors LLC

True North Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ – Get Rating) by 15.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 21,695 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,864 shares during the period. Johnson & Johnson comprises about 1.2% of True North Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. True North Advisors LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $3,851,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 238,141,110 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,205,749,000 after acquiring an additional 3,358,478 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 0.4% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 200,799,189 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,587,638,000 after purchasing an additional 777,837 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 0.8% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 32,772,594 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,808,286,000 after purchasing an additional 265,330 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.6% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 32,070,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,683,837,000 after purchasing an additional 509,818 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.9% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,189,229 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,046,449,000 after purchasing an additional 328,297 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.59% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on JNJ. Bank of America cut their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $185.00 to $178.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 14th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $174.00 to $170.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. SVB Leerink cut their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $200.00 to $194.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 20th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $185.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 21st. Finally, Raymond James lowered their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $192.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $184.25.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Up 2.2 %

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NYSE JNJ opened at $168.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.42. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $164.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $172.62. Johnson & Johnson has a twelve month low of $155.72 and a twelve month high of $186.69. The stock has a market cap of $443.57 billion, a PE ratio of 23.50, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.56.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 18th. The company reported $2.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.49 by $0.06. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 19.95% and a return on equity of 35.32%. The business had revenue of $23.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.60 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.05 EPS for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 22nd will be paid a $1.13 dividend. This represents a $4.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 21st. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is presently 62.95%.

Johnson & Johnson declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, September 14th that allows the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 1.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Johnson & Johnson

In other Johnson & Johnson news, VP Peter Fasolo sold 22,864 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.50, for a total transaction of $3,761,128.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 114,676 shares in the company, valued at $18,864,202. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.35% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Johnson & Johnson Profile

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Johnson & Johnson, together with its subsidiaries, researches and develops, manufactures, and sells various products in the healthcare field 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 AVEENO, CLEAN & CLEAR, DR.