Whitener Capital Management Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Johnson & Johnson $JNJ

Whitener Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 15.2% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 25,705 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,401 shares during the period. Johnson & Johnson accounts for 1.1% of Whitener Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Whitener Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $4,766,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in JNJ. Norges Bank bought a new position in Johnson & Johnson during the second quarter valued at about $4,877,174,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 15,040.6% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,420,699 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,133,512,000 after acquiring an additional 7,371,687 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 237,047,859 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,209,060,000 after acquiring an additional 3,085,180 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 159.6% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,159,260 shares of the company’s stock worth $635,327,000 after purchasing an additional 2,557,388 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $401,420,000. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

JNJ has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $212.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Raymond James Financial increased their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $174.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $190.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $204.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.25.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

Shares of JNJ opened at $207.54 on Friday. Johnson & Johnson has a 52-week low of $140.68 and a 52-week high of $215.18. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $199.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $181.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $500.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.36.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last announced its quarterly 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 for the quarter. Research analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 25th were paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 25th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.19%.

Johnson & Johnson Company Profile

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.