Paulson Wealth Management Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Johnson & Johnson $JNJ

Paulson Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 40.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,499 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,175 shares during the quarter. Paulson Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $1,145,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 233,962,679 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,800,371,000 after purchasing an additional 1,170,120 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Johnson & Johnson by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 30,943,820 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,131,723,000 after purchasing an additional 130,645 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 2.7% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 23,802,503 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,635,832,000 after buying an additional 620,039 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,899,263 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,133,602,000 after acquiring an additional 712,181 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 2.5% during the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 18,282,410 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,031,955,000 after acquiring an additional 448,666 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

JNJ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company set a $212.00 price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 13th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $165.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Barclays boosted their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $172.00 to $193.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.05.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Jennifer L. Taubert sold 56,471 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.81, for a total value of $10,041,108.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 178,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,652,491.53. The trade was a 24.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Up 0.5%

NYSE:JNJ opened at $186.92 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $450.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.38. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $184.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $168.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.07. Johnson & Johnson has a 52 week low of $140.68 and a 52 week high of $194.48.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 30th. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share 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 forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 25th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 25th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.