Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Shares Purchased by TCW Group Inc.

TCW Group Inc. raised its stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 38.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 146,225 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 40,658 shares during the quarter. TCW Group Inc.’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $22,913,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,071,642,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.5% during the 4th 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 last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 10,620,264 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,664,620,000 after buying an additional 498,647 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,169,190 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,593,908,000 after acquiring an additional 975,485 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 6,285,184 shares of the company’s stock worth $985,140,000 after acquiring an additional 50,822 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on JNJ shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $175.00 target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday. HSBC raised shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $169.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. StockNews.com upgraded Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Bank of America dropped their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $180.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $168.00 to $167.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $175.86.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

JNJ traded down $2.73 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $146.97. 9,520,576 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,234,254. The stock has a market cap of $353.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.55. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $151.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $155.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.94. Johnson & Johnson has a 12 month low of $143.13 and a 12 month high of $175.97.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last posted its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $21.38 billion during 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.68 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 21st will be issued a $1.24 dividend. This is an increase from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.19. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 20th. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.37%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.92%.

Johnson & Johnson 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.