Brandes Investment Partners LP Boosts Holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Brandes Investment Partners LP grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 17.1% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 324,566 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 47,292 shares during the quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $47,431,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new stake in Johnson & Johnson in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,519,000. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 12.6% during the second quarter. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,412 shares of the company’s stock valued at $352,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Newport Capital Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the second quarter worth about $427,000. Saratoga Research & Investment Management lifted its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 25.5% in the second quarter. Saratoga Research & Investment Management now owns 551,753 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,644,000 after buying an additional 112,234 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Regal Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 2.6% during the second quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 87,349 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,767,000 after buying an additional 2,249 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

Shares of JNJ stock opened at $161.40 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $162.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $154.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $388.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.07. Johnson & Johnson has a 52-week low of $143.13 and a 52-week high of $168.85.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The company reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.71 by $0.11. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 46.34% and a return on equity of 36.60%. The firm had revenue of $22.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.33 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.80 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th were issued a $1.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.07%. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is 30.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Johnson & Johnson news, VP Robert J. Decker sold 5,635 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.06, for a total transaction of $930,113.10. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,973 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,131,683.38. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on JNJ. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $161.00 to $171.00 in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $160.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. TD Securities dropped their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $195.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $160.00 to $155.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $195.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Johnson & Johnson currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $173.21.

About Johnson & Johnson

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.