Sapient Capital LLC Invests $8.92 Million in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Sapient Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 56,876 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,915,000.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of JNJ. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,438 shares of the company’s stock valued at $852,000 after buying an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 297,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,685,000 after purchasing an additional 15,490 shares during the last quarter. DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co boosted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 0.6% during the third quarter. DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co now owns 75,495 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,758,000 after purchasing an additional 414 shares during the last quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 82.8% in the fourth quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC now owns 9,838 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,542,000 after acquiring an additional 4,457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TrueMark Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth about $1,458,000. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

JNJ has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. HSBC upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $169.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $181.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $215.00 price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $168.00 to $167.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $175.86.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of JNJ opened at $148.95 on Thursday. Johnson & Johnson has a 1 year low of $143.13 and a 1 year high of $175.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $153.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $154.97. The firm has a market cap of $358.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.55.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The company reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $21.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.39 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 36.70%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.68 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 21st will be issued a dividend of $1.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 20th. This is a boost from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.19. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.33%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.92%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Jennifer L. Taubert sold 59,397 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.27, for a total transaction of $9,281,969.19. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 141,416 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,099,078.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, EVP Jennifer L. Taubert sold 59,397 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.27, for a total transaction of $9,281,969.19. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 141,416 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,099,078.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder & Johnson Johnson sold 3,725 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.81, for a total value of $96,142.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 4,099,575 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $105,810,030.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

About Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson, together with its subsidiaries, researches, develops, manufactures, and sells various products in the healthcare field worldwide. The company's Innovative Medicine segment offers products for various therapeutic areas, such as immunology, including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and psoriasis; infectious diseases comprising HIV/AIDS; neuroscience, consisting of mood disorders, neurodegenerative disorders, and schizophrenia; oncology, such as prostate cancer, hematologic malignancies, lung cancer, and bladder cancer; cardiovascular and metabolism, including thrombosis, diabetes, and macular degeneration; and pulmonary hypertension comprising pulmonary arterial hypertension through retailers, wholesalers, distributors, hospitals, and healthcare professionals for prescription use.