Empower Advisory Group LLC Decreases Stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Empower Advisory Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 834,877 shares of the company’s stock after selling 93,448 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $135,300,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Meridian Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,626,000. Lmcg Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 32.7% in the third quarter. Lmcg Investments LLC now owns 87,162 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,125,000 after acquiring an additional 21,471 shares during the last quarter. Cooper Haims Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 6.4% during the first quarter. Cooper Haims Advisors LLC now owns 3,358 shares of the company’s stock valued at $531,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Trajan Wealth LLC increased its position in Johnson & Johnson by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Trajan Wealth LLC now owns 32,992 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,347,000 after purchasing an additional 3,341 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP lifted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 127.5% in the 1st quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 37,592 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,947,000 after purchasing an additional 21,071 shares in the last quarter. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

JNJ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 14th. TD Securities cut their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $195.00 to $185.00 in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Guggenheim raised their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $156.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $178.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $175.00.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

NYSE JNJ opened at $152.64 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $367.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.53. Johnson & Johnson has a 1-year low of $143.13 and a 1-year high of $168.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $162.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $155.97.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The company reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $22.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.17 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 35.45% and a net margin of 19.14%. The company’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.66 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be issued a dividend of $1.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.25%. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is currently 71.78%.

Insider Activity at Johnson & Johnson

In other Johnson & Johnson news, VP Robert J. Decker sold 5,635 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.06, for a total transaction of $930,113.10. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,973 shares in the company, valued at $3,131,683.38. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

About Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson, together with its subsidiaries, researches, develops, manufactures, and sells various products in the healthcare field worldwide. The company's Innovative Medicine segment offers products for various therapeutic areas, such as immunology, including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and psoriasis; infectious diseases comprising HIV/AIDS; neuroscience, consisting of mood disorders, neurodegenerative disorders, and schizophrenia; oncology, such as prostate cancer, hematologic malignancies, lung cancer, and bladder cancer; cardiovascular and metabolism, including thrombosis, diabetes, and macular degeneration; and pulmonary hypertension comprising pulmonary arterial hypertension through retailers, wholesalers, distributors, hospitals, and healthcare professionals for prescription use.