Prudential Financial Inc. Acquires 47,504 Shares of Johnson & Johnson $JNJ

Prudential Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,027,408 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 47,504 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. owned about 0.08% of Johnson & Johnson worth $309,687,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. GFG Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the second quarter valued at about $35,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Johnson & Johnson in the first quarter valued at approximately $47,000. 1248 Management LLC acquired a new stake in Johnson & Johnson during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in Johnson & Johnson during the 1st quarter worth approximately $52,000. Finally, Pandora Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the 1st quarter worth approximately $65,000. Institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 178,013 shares in the company, valued at $31,652,491.53. This trade represents a 24.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

JNJ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $165.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Johnson & Johnson from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $203.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, October 20th. Daiwa America raised Johnson & Johnson from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $186.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Johnson & Johnson presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.05.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

Shares of Johnson & Johnson stock opened at $203.88 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $188.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $171.67. Johnson & Johnson has a one year low of $140.68 and a one year high of $206.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $491.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.68, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.38.

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

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.19%.

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.