Independent Franchise Partners LLP Sells 932,561 Shares of Johnson & Johnson $JNJ

Independent Franchise Partners LLP lessened its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 20.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,656,329 shares of the company’s stock after selling 932,561 shares during the quarter. Johnson & Johnson makes up about 4.8% of Independent Franchise Partners LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Independent Franchise Partners LLP’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $756,677,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Investment Management Corp of Ontario grew its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 49.2% during the 4th quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 225,879 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,746,000 after purchasing an additional 74,454 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 7,723,981 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,598,482,000 after purchasing an additional 724,501 shares in the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 239,366 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,537,000 after purchasing an additional 26,330 shares in the last quarter. Element Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,564,000. Finally, Evolve Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the 4th quarter worth approximately $8,462,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

JNJ has been the topic of several analyst reports. Johnson Rice upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Argus increased their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $240.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $244.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Johnson & Johnson currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $253.04.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Johnson & Johnson news, EVP Kathryn E. Wengel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.15, for a total value of $2,411,500.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 114,288 shares in the company, valued at $27,560,551.20. This trade represents a 8.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

Shares of Johnson & Johnson stock opened at $233.44 on Thursday. Johnson & Johnson has a fifty-two week low of $149.04 and a fifty-two week high of $251.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $561.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.26. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $231.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $227.93.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 14th. The company reported $2.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.02. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 21.83% and a return on equity of 32.60%. The firm had revenue of $24.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.60 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.77 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. Johnson & Johnson has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.450-11.650 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 11.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 26th were given a $1.34 dividend. This is an increase from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.30. This represents a $5.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 26th. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.97%.

About Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson is a multinational healthcare company headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey, that develops, manufactures and markets a broad range of products across pharmaceuticals, medical devices and previously consumer health. Founded in 1886 by the Johnson family, the company has grown into a global healthcare organization with operations and sales in many countries around the world.

The company’s pharmaceuticals business, organized largely under its Janssen research and development organization, focuses on prescription medicines across therapeutic areas such as immunology, infectious disease, oncology and neuroscience.