Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Shares Bought by Asio Capital LLC

Asio Capital LLC increased its stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 34,082 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 463 shares during the period. Asio Capital LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $4,929,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 3,437,397 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 2,356,359 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Johnson & Johnson by 11.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 16,840,069 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,721,355,000 after buying an additional 1,729,281 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in Johnson & Johnson in the 3rd quarter worth about $225,040,000. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,316,920 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,968,440,000 after acquiring an additional 1,265,748 shares during the period. 69.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on JNJ. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of 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 increased their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $156.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Leerink Partners dropped 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. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $185.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $159.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $170.44.

Insider Activity at Johnson & Johnson

In other news, Director Mark A. Weinberger acquired 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $147.22 per share, for a total transaction of $147,220.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $147,220. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Down 1.5 %

NYSE JNJ opened at $150.63 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $147.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $156.12. Johnson & Johnson has a one year low of $140.68 and a one year high of $168.85. The firm has a market cap of $362.65 billion, a PE ratio of 22.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.51. 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $2.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $22.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.44 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 34.35% and a net margin of 18.20%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.29 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $1.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.29%. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is 74.59%.

About Johnson & Johnson

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.