Ceredex Value Advisors LLC Sells 105,046 Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 27.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 272,940 shares of the company’s stock after selling 105,046 shares during the period. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $39,893,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,071,642,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,019,725 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,764,852,000 after buying an additional 3,391,657 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 16.8% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 21,834,359 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,453,978,000 after purchasing an additional 3,139,499 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 15,945,533 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,483,532,000 after buying an additional 241,799 shares during the period. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 10,620,264 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,664,620,000 after acquiring an additional 498,647 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Up 1.1 %

JNJ stock opened at $164.13 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $153.92 and its 200 day moving average is $153.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The stock has a market cap of $395.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.23, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.52. Johnson & Johnson has a 12-month low of $143.13 and a 12-month high of $167.78.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The company reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.71 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $22.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.33 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 46.34% and a return on equity of 36.60%. Johnson & Johnson’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.80 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th will be paid a $1.24 dividend. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 27th. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is currently 30.92%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on JNJ shares. Daiwa Capital Markets cut shares of Johnson & Johnson from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $215.00 price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Monday, August 5th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $195.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Daiwa America lowered shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Johnson & Johnson currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $173.21.

Johnson & Johnson Company Profile

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.