Johnson & Johnson $JNJ Holdings Cut by Knott David M Jr

Knott David M Jr lowered its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 28.9% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,922 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,000 shares during the period. Knott David M Jr’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $1,203,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 240,349,660 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,740,362,000 after purchasing an additional 3,731,074 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 133,869,843 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,704,364,000 after buying an additional 1,663,782 shares in the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 22,225.6% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 69,419,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,436,633,000 after buying an additional 69,108,368 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 57,953,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,967,947,000 after acquiring an additional 1,738,292 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter worth approximately $6,924,523,000. 69.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting Johnson & Johnson

Here are the key news stories impacting Johnson & Johnson this week:

• Positive Sentiment: The FDA granted marketing authorization for J&J’s OTTAVA robotic surgical system, a potentially meaningful new business in soft-tissue robotics that could expand the MedTech division. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: J&J also reported encouraging late-stage data for its multiple myeloma therapies Tecvayli and Talvey, with the MonumenTAL-6 study showing large reductions in progression risk and death, strengthening the company’s oncology pipeline. PR Newswire article
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are also responding to J&J’s recent quarterly earnings beat and upbeat 2026 outlook, which has boosted sentiment around the stock and drawn interest from ETF investors. Yahoo Finance article
• Positive Sentiment: J&J raised its dividend, reinforcing its appeal as a defensive income stock and supporting demand from dividend-focused investors. Yahoo Finance article
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles were commentary pieces discussing J&J’s valuation, ETF exposure, and investor attention, but they do not add a new fundamental catalyst on their own. MarketBeat article
• Negative Sentiment: A Reuters report said a judge cast doubt on roughly 69,000 talc-related cancer claims, which could still keep legal uncertainty in focus despite being framed as a procedural win for J&J. Reuters article

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Daiwa Securities Group raised their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $237.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $250.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. HSBC set a $290.00 target price on Johnson & Johnson and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $263.00 to $272.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $260.00 price objective on Johnson & Johnson in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Johnson & Johnson presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $265.30.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

NYSE JNJ opened at $259.34 on Friday. Johnson & Johnson has a 1 year low of $164.23 and a 1 year high of $269.43. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $241.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $236.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The company has a market cap of $624.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.24.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The company reported $2.90 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $25.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.06 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 21.48% and a return on equity of 32.86%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.77 EPS. Johnson & Johnson has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.600-11.750 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 11.68 EPS for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 25th will be paid a $1.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 25th. This represents a $5.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is presently 62.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Johnson & Johnson

In related news, EVP Kathryn E. Wengel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.15, for a total transaction of $2,411,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 114,288 shares in the company, valued at $27,560,551.20. This represents a 8.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Johnson & Johnson Company Profile

Johnson & Johnson is a multinational healthcare company headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey, that develops, manufactures and markets a broad range of products across pharmaceuticals, medical devices and previously consumer health. Founded in 1886 by the Johnson family, the company has grown into a global healthcare organization with operations and sales in many countries around the world.

The company’s pharmaceuticals business, organized largely under its Janssen research and development organization, focuses on prescription medicines across therapeutic areas such as immunology, infectious disease, oncology and neuroscience.