Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Sells 7,345 Shares of Johnson & Johnson $JNJ

Key Points

• Empirical Wealth Management sold 7,345 shares of Johnson & Johnson, reducing its stake by 10% in the second quarter, which left them with 65,885 shares valued at approximately $10.06 million.
• Johnson & Johnson recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share, representing a 2.8% yield, with a payout ratio of 55.61%.
• Analysts have recently increased their price targets for Johnson & Johnson, with Bank of America and UBS setting targets at $198.00, reflecting a notable bullish sentiment surrounding the stock.

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management reduced its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Free Report) by 10.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 65,885 shares of the company's stock after selling 7,345 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management's holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $10,064,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Johnson & Johnson during the 1st quarter worth about $1,369,188,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 26.4% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 23,182,464 shares of the company's stock worth $3,844,580,000 after acquiring an additional 4,842,582 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 1,382.0% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,030,084 shares of the company's stock worth $502,509,000 after acquiring an additional 2,825,626 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 159.6% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,159,260 shares of the company's stock worth $635,327,000 after acquiring an additional 2,557,388 shares during the period. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in Johnson & Johnson during the 2nd quarter worth about $401,420,000. 69.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Johnson & Johnson

In other Johnson & Johnson news, EVP Jennifer L. Taubert sold 56,471 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 178,013 shares of the company's stock, valued at $31,652,491.53. This trade represents a 24.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

Shares of NYSE JNJ opened at $188.51 on Friday. Johnson & Johnson has a fifty-two week low of $140.68 and a fifty-two week high of $189.78. The stock has a market cap of $453.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.16, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.40. 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 firm's 50-day simple moving average is $176.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $162.83.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $23.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $22.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.82 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Johnson & Johnson has set its FY 2025 guidance at 10.800-10.900 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 26th were given a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 26th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. Johnson & Johnson's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

JNJ has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America increased their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $175.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday. UBS Group set a $198.00 target price on Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $181.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Johnson & Johnson from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim upgraded Johnson & Johnson from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the company from $167.00 to $206.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $188.88.

Johnson & Johnson Profile

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.

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