Empirical Finance LLC Has $13.08 Million Position in Johnson & Johnson $JNJ

Empirical Finance LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 85,653 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 531 shares during the period. Johnson & Johnson comprises approximately 0.7% of Empirical Finance LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $13,083,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in JNJ. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the 1st quarter valued at $1,369,188,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 237,047,859 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,209,060,000 after buying an additional 3,085,180 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $635,327,000 after acquiring an additional 2,557,388 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $401,420,000. 69.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

JNJ has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Friday, October 31st. Johnson Rice set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $203.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $212.00 target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial upped their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $174.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.05.

Insider Activity at Johnson & Johnson

In other news, EVP Jennifer L. Taubert sold 56,471 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.81, for a total transaction of $10,041,108.51. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 178,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,652,491.53. This trade represents a 24.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of JNJ stock opened at $200.10 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. Johnson & Johnson has a 1 year low of $140.68 and a 1 year high of $200.30. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $186.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $170.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $482.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.38.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 30th. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $24.02 billion for the quarter. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 27.26% and a return on equity of 32.73%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 25th will be issued a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 25th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio is 50.19%.

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.