Empire Life Investments Inc. Decreases Stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Empire Life Investments Inc. decreased its stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 7.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 192,922 shares of the company’s stock after selling 15,956 shares during the period. Johnson & Johnson makes up 1.8% of Empire Life Investments Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Empire Life Investments Inc.’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $27,900,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in JNJ. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 134,245,811 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,755,874,000 after acquiring an additional 1,154,088 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 1.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 56,106,884 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,064,149,000 after purchasing an additional 1,004,763 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 7.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,316,920 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,968,440,000 after purchasing an additional 1,265,748 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,639,368 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,858,543,000 after buying an additional 102,502 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 16,840,069 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,721,355,000 after buying an additional 1,729,281 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on JNJ. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $166.00 to $152.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $181.00 target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $190.00 price target for the company. Argus upgraded Johnson & Johnson to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $185.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Johnson & Johnson currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $170.67.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE JNJ opened at $155.04 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $373.27 billion, a PE ratio of 23.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $148.00 and a 200-day moving average of $155.91. Johnson & Johnson has a 52-week low of $140.68 and a 52-week high of $168.85.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $2.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $22.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.44 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 34.35% and a net margin of 18.20%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.29 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a $1.24 dividend. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is currently 74.59%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Mark A. Weinberger acquired 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $147.22 per share, with a total value of $147,220.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $147,220. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase 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 dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total value of $62,928.45. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,357,552.70. The trade was 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 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.