Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Lowers Stock Holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. cut its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 2.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 364,635 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,610 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $59,093,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of JNJ. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the second quarter valued at $27,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Johnson & Johnson during the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 58.7% in the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 246 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 400.0% during the third quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 250 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on JNJ shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $163.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $178.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $156.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $215.00 target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $175.94.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Robert J. Decker sold 5,635 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $3,131,683.38. This trade represents a 22.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

Shares of JNJ stock opened at $155.17 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $160.21 and a 200 day moving average of $156.32. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $373.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.53.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The company reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.21. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 35.45% and a net margin of 19.14%. The firm had revenue of $22.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.66 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a $1.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is currently 71.78%.

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.