Easterly Investment Partners LLC Grows Position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Easterly Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 6.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 85,144 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,028 shares during the period. Johnson & Johnson accounts for 1.1% of Easterly Investment Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Easterly Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $12,445,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Johnson & Johnson during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,071,642,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,019,725 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,764,852,000 after purchasing an additional 3,391,657 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Johnson & Johnson by 16.8% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 21,834,359 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,453,978,000 after purchasing an additional 3,139,499 shares during the period. Ninety One UK Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 59.0% in the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 6,708,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $980,579,000 after buying an additional 2,489,925 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the first quarter valued at approximately $331,178,000. 69.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

JNJ has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Daiwa America downgraded Johnson & Johnson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $175.00 target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. TD Securities reduced their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $195.00 to $185.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $160.00 to $155.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $173.21.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of JNJ traded up $1.78 on Friday, hitting $164.13. 7,093,429 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,299,449. The firm has a market capitalization of $395.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. Johnson & Johnson has a 1 year low of $143.13 and a 1 year high of $167.78. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $153.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $153.20.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The company reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.71 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $22.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.33 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 36.60% and a net margin of 46.34%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.80 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th will be issued a $1.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.02%. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is 30.92%.

Johnson & Johnson 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.