Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires 1,100 Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Jul 7th, 2023

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ – Free Report) by 0.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 170,000 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the period. Johnson & Johnson comprises about 0.7% of Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $26,350,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 90,144.4% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 54,386,720 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,607,414,000 after acquiring an additional 54,326,454 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter valued at $4,609,399,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 42,224,521 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,458,962,000 after acquiring an additional 4,521,062 shares during the last quarter. Nordwand Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter valued at $785,273,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 29,277,774 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,171,919,000 after acquiring an additional 3,849,148 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.57% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on JNJ. TheStreet cut shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Friday, May 19th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “strong-buy” rating for the company. Credit Suisse Group raised their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $168.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Friday, May 5th. Raymond James cut their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $185.00 to $181.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 19th. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Tuesday, March 28th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $164.00 target price for the company. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $171.57.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

JNJ stock opened at $161.60 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Johnson & Johnson has a 12 month low of $150.11 and a 12 month high of $181.04. The firm has a market cap of $419.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.55. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $160.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $162.73.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ – Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 18th. The company reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.51 by $0.17. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 36.13%. The firm had revenue of $24.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.61 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.67 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 23rd were issued a $1.19 dividend. This is a positive change from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.13. This represents a $4.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.95%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 22nd. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 99.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Johnson & Johnson

In related news, EVP Kathryn E. Wengel sold 12,465 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.00, for a total transaction of $1,994,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 65,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,549,440. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

About Johnson & Johnson

(Free Report)

Johnson & Johnson, together with its subsidiaries, researches, develops, manufactures, and sells various products in the healthcare field worldwide. The company's Consumer Health segment provides skin health/beauty products under the AVEENO, CLEAN & CLEAR, DR. CI:LABO, NEUTROGENA, and OGX brands; baby care products under the JOHNSON'S and AVEENO Baby brands; oral care products under the LISTERINE brand; TYLENOL acetaminophen products; SUDAFED cold, flu, and allergy products; BENADRYL and ZYRTEC allergy products; MOTRIN IB ibuprofen products; NICORETTE smoking cessation products; and PEPCID acid reflux products.