Stephens Inc. AR Cuts Position in Johnson & Johnson $JNJ

Key Points

• Stephens Inc. AR reduced its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 2.7%, holding 197,201 shares worth approximately $30.1 million after selling 5,511 shares in the second quarter.
• Several institutional investors, including Nuveen LLC and Bank of New York Mellon Corp, have increased their holdings in Johnson & Johnson, indicating strong investor interest.
• Johnson & Johnson declared a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share, with an annualized yield of 2.7%, reflecting its solid payout ratio of 50.19%.

Stephens Inc. AR lessened its stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Free Report) by 2.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 197,201 shares of the company's stock after selling 5,511 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR's holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $30,122,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in JNJ. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,369,188,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 26.4% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 23,182,464 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,844,580,000 after purchasing an additional 4,842,582 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1,382.0% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,030,084 shares of the company's stock valued at $502,509,000 after purchasing an additional 2,825,626 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 159.6% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,159,260 shares of the company's stock valued at $635,327,000 after purchasing an additional 2,557,388 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the 2nd quarter valued at about $401,420,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.55% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

JNJ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $165.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Argus set a $210.00 target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. UBS Group raised their target price 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. Finally, Guggenheim upgraded shares of 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 report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $200.06.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE JNJ opened at $193.78 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $466.68 billion, a PE ratio of 18.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.40. Johnson & Johnson has a 12 month low of $140.68 and a 12 month high of $194.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $180.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $165.18.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 30th. The company reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $24.02 billion during the quarter. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 27.26% and a return on equity of 33.08%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

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 issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 25th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Johnson & Johnson's payout ratio is 50.19%.

Insider Activity at Johnson & Johnson

In other news, EVP Jennifer L. Taubert sold 56,471 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 178,013 shares in the company, valued at $31,652,491.53. The trade was a 24.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Johnson & Johnson Company 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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