Johnson & Johnson $JNJ Shares Sold by CENTRAL TRUST Co

CENTRAL TRUST Co lowered its holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 119,801 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,278 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $18,300,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the 1st quarter valued at $1,369,188,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1,382.0% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,030,084 shares of the company’s stock worth $502,509,000 after purchasing an additional 2,825,626 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 159.6% during the second 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 during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the 2nd quarter valued at $401,420,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 14.4% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 16,903,105 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,803,042,000 after purchasing an additional 2,129,612 shares in the last quarter. 69.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on JNJ. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $186.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Loop Capital set a $190.00 price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. HSBC raised their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $209.00 target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.05.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

Shares of JNJ opened at $188.29 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $453.65 billion, a PE ratio of 18.17, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.07. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $184.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $169.03. Johnson & Johnson has a 52 week low of $140.68 and a 52 week high of $194.48.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 30th. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 27.26% and a return on equity of 32.73%. The company had revenue of $24.02 billion during the quarter. Research analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 25th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 25th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Johnson & Johnson news, EVP Jennifer L. Taubert sold 56,471 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.81, for a total value of $10,041,108.51. Following the transaction, the executive vice president 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Johnson & Johnson

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.