Brandes Investment Partners LP Buys 55,609 Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Brandes Investment Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 16.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 396,932 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 55,609 shares during the quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $57,404,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in JNJ. Knuff & Co LLC grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 9,466 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,534,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Vertex Planning Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.3% in the third quarter. Vertex Planning Partners LLC now owns 5,211 shares of the company’s stock valued at $844,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management now owns 2,080 shares of the company’s stock valued at $301,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Denali Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 5,128 shares of the company’s stock valued at $742,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sage Mountain Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 14,564 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,106,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.88, for a total value of $1,160,994.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 21,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,483,645.88. This represents a 25.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total value of $62,928.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,357,552.70. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Down 0.0 %

JNJ stock opened at $162.94 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $392.29 billion, a PE ratio of 24.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.47. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $154.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $156.37. Johnson & Johnson has a 52 week low of $140.68 and a 52 week high of $169.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $2.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $22.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.44 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 34.24% and a net margin of 18.20%. Johnson & Johnson’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.29 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $1.24 dividend. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.59%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on JNJ shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 25th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $175.00 to $163.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $190.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $181.00 price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $155.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Johnson & Johnson has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $171.33.

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.