Johnson & Johnson $JNJ Shares Bought by Marshall Wace LLP

Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 73.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,583,553 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 670,669 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $241,888,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of JNJ. Portland Global Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Portland Global Advisors LLC now owns 6,727 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,028,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. grew its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 4.6% in the second quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 493,373 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,363,000 after purchasing an additional 21,830 shares during the period. Royal Fund Management LLC increased its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 11.1% in the second quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC now owns 28,080 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,292,000 after buying an additional 2,798 shares in the last quarter. Annandale Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Annandale Capital LLC now owns 22,171 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,387,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Finally, Veltria Advisors Corp. grew its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Veltria Advisors Corp. now owns 1,818 shares of the company’s stock valued at $278,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

JNJ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $190.00 to $214.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $165.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Bank of America increased their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $198.00 to $204.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Barclays lifted their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $176.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Guggenheim raised Johnson & Johnson from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $167.00 to $206.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.10.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

NYSE:JNJ opened at $202.24 on Friday. Johnson & Johnson has a one year low of $140.68 and a one year high of $207.81. The stock has a market cap of $487.25 billion, a PE ratio of 19.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.07. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $193.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $174.90.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last issued 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 company had revenue of $24.02 billion during the quarter. Equities research analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 25th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 25th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio is 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.