Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) is Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC's Largest Position

Key Points

• Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 13.8%, making it the firm's largest investment with over 2.1 million shares valued at $351.3 million.
• Several institutional investors raised their positions in Johnson & Johnson, resulting in institutional ownership now accounting for about 69.55% of the stock.
• Johnson & Johnson reported a Q2 EPS of $2.77, surpassing analysts' expectations, with revenue increasing by 5.8% year-over-year to $23.74 billion.

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Free Report) by 13.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,118,530 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 257,404 shares during the period. Johnson & Johnson comprises 2.5% of Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.09% of Johnson & Johnson worth $351,337,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of JNJ. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Johnson & Johnson during the first quarter worth approximately $1,369,188,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 24,450.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,215,367 shares of the company's stock worth $1,196,596,000 after purchasing an additional 7,185,977 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 26.4% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 23,182,464 shares of the company's stock worth $3,844,580,000 after purchasing an additional 4,842,582 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 134.5% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 7,948,508 shares of the company's stock worth $1,149,536,000 after purchasing an additional 4,559,147 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 12.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 30,813,175 shares of the company's stock worth $4,456,201,000 after purchasing an additional 3,363,235 shares in the last quarter. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:JNJ traded up $2.04 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $176.76. 9,476,237 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,427,234. Johnson & Johnson has a 52 week low of $140.68 and a 52 week high of $177.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.01. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $161.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $158.34. The company has a market cap of $425.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.41.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The company reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.09. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 25.00% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company had revenue of $23.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.82 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 26th will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 26th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Johnson & Johnson's dividend payout ratio is currently 55.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

JNJ has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $171.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $181.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Johnson & Johnson from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $161.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $167.00 price target (up from $164.00) on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Johnson & Johnson currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $174.50.

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.