Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Shares Purchased by Comgest Global Investors S.A.S.

Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. lifted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 5.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,097,189 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 109,235 shares during the quarter. Johnson & Johnson comprises about 4.9% of Comgest Global Investors S.A.S.’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S.’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $339,870,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 16.8% during 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 buying an additional 3,139,499 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 10.8% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 18,780,645 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,744,979,000 after buying an additional 1,831,751 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 14,374,397 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,100,427,000 after buying an additional 754,200 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 16.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 13,147,352 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,921,565,000 after buying an additional 1,829,257 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 8,014,213 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,171,357,000 after buying an additional 437,637 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on JNJ. Daiwa Capital Markets cut shares of Johnson & Johnson from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $160.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $178.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $160.00 to $155.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $163.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $175.94.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Johnson & Johnson news, VP Robert J. Decker sold 5,635 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.06, for a total transaction of $930,113.10. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,973 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,131,683.38. The trade was a 22.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

Shares of Johnson & Johnson stock traded up $2.13 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $154.00. 11,328,515 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,017,128. Johnson & Johnson has a 12 month low of $143.13 and a 12 month high of $168.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market cap of $370.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.29, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.53. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $161.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $156.02.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.21. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 19.14% and a return on equity of 35.45%. The firm had revenue of $22.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.66 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be issued a dividend of $1.24 per share. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is 71.78%.

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.