Handelsbanken Fonder AB Increases Stock Position in Johnson & Johnson $JNJ

Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 0.2% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,446,924 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,365 shares during the period. Johnson & Johnson accounts for approximately 0.8% of Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $221,018,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 13.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 51,876 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,502,000 after purchasing an additional 6,332 shares during the period. Wealth Group Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the 1st quarter worth approximately $218,000. Smart Money Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 6.5% in the first quarter. Smart Money Group LLC now owns 6,687 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,109,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC grew its position in Johnson & Johnson by 4.7% during the first quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 3,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $510,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the period. Finally, United Bank increased its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 110.7% during the first quarter. United Bank now owns 9,279 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,539,000 after buying an additional 4,876 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $230.00 price target on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $172.00 to $193.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $209.00 price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Friday, October 10th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $198.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Johnson & Johnson presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.05.

Insider Buying and Selling at Johnson & Johnson

In related news, EVP Jennifer L. Taubert sold 56,471 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 178,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,652,491.53. This represents a 24.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

Shares of Johnson & Johnson stock opened at $203.29 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $489.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.62, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $187.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $171.22. Johnson & Johnson has a 52 week low of $140.68 and a 52 week high of $204.51.

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

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 25th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 25th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.