WealthShield Partners LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Johnson & Johnson $JNJ

WealthShield Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 6.1% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,346 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 366 shares during the quarter. WealthShield Partners LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $969,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in JNJ. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 233,962,679 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,800,371,000 after purchasing an additional 1,170,120 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 2.1% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 60,609,476 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,227,988,000 after acquiring an additional 1,225,676 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 0.4% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 30,943,820 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,131,723,000 after acquiring an additional 130,645 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 23,802,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,635,832,000 after purchasing an additional 620,039 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,899,263 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,133,602,000 after purchasing an additional 712,181 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on JNJ shares. Citigroup increased their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $213.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Loop Capital set a $190.00 target price on Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Daiwa America upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $190.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.05.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Johnson & Johnson news, EVP Jennifer L. Taubert sold 56,471 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.81, for a total value of $10,041,108.51. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 178,013 shares in the company, valued at $31,652,491.53. This represents a 24.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE JNJ opened at $196.00 on Friday. Johnson & Johnson has a 1 year low of $140.68 and a 1 year high of $197.18. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $185.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $170.04. The company has a market cap of $472.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.92, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 30th. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $24.02 billion during the quarter. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 32.73% and a net margin of 27.26%. Research analysts anticipate that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

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

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.