National Pension Service Lowers Stock Position in Johnson & Johnson $JNJ

National Pension Service decreased its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,774,862 shares of the company’s stock after selling 82,357 shares during the period. Johnson & Johnson makes up about 0.6% of National Pension Service’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest position. National Pension Service owned approximately 0.20% of Johnson & Johnson worth $729,360,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. GFG Capital LLC purchased a new position in Johnson & Johnson in the second quarter worth $35,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the 1st quarter worth $47,000. 1248 Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the 1st quarter worth $48,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the 1st quarter valued at about $52,000. Finally, Pandora Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the first quarter valued at about $65,000. 69.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Jennifer L. Taubert sold 56,471 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.81, for a total transaction of $10,041,108.51. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 178,013 shares in the company, valued at $31,652,491.53. The trade was a 24.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on JNJ shares. Wells Fargo & Company set a $212.00 target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Guggenheim upgraded Johnson & Johnson from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $167.00 to $206.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Barclays raised their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Raymond James Financial boosted their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $174.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded Johnson & Johnson from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Johnson & Johnson has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.05.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

JNJ stock opened at $193.76 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $184.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $169.31. The firm has a market cap of $466.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.70, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.07. Johnson & Johnson has a 1 year low of $140.68 and a 1 year high of $194.48.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 30th. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 32.73% and a net margin of 27.26%.The company had revenue of $24.02 billion during the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 25th will be issued a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 25th. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio is 50.19%.

Johnson & Johnson Company 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.