Aureus Asset Management LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Johnson & Johnson $JNJ

Aureus Asset Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 48.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,841 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,325 shares during the period. Aureus Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $2,405,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 240,349,660 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,740,362,000 after buying an additional 3,731,074 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 133,869,843 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,704,364,000 after acquiring an additional 1,663,782 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 22,225.6% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 69,419,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,436,633,000 after acquiring an additional 69,108,368 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Johnson & Johnson by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 57,953,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,967,947,000 after acquiring an additional 1,738,292 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter valued at about $6,924,523,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Kathryn E. Wengel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.15, for a total value of $2,411,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 114,288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,560,551.20. The trade was a 8.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Key Johnson & Johnson News

Here are the key news stories impacting Johnson & Johnson this week:

• Positive Sentiment: The FDA approved J&J’s OTTAVA robotic surgery system, opening the door for Johnson & Johnson to compete in robotic soft-tissue surgery and potentially expand its medtech growth runway. Reuters article on OTTAVA approval
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are also encouraged by the prospect of a phased launch of OTTAVA with select customers, suggesting J&J is preparing a commercial rollout after securing clearance. Medical Device Network article on OTTAVA launch plans
• Positive Sentiment: J&J also continues to look like a defensive income stock, with a newly declared quarterly dividend reinforcing its appeal to dividend-focused investors. Yahoo Finance dividend article
• Neutral Sentiment: A federal judge cast doubt on roughly 69,000 talc-related cancer claims, but the court did not dismiss the litigation outright, so the legal overhang remains a mixed but potentially improving risk for J&J. Reuters talc litigation article

Johnson & Johnson Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of Johnson & Johnson stock opened at $255.71 on Thursday. Johnson & Johnson has a fifty-two week low of $164.23 and a fifty-two week high of $269.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 1.03. The company has a market capitalization of $615.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a fifty day moving average of $241.40 and a 200 day moving average of $235.76.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The company reported $2.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.06. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 32.86% and a net margin of 21.48%.The business had revenue of $25.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.06 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.77 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. Johnson & Johnson has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.600-11.750 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Johnson & Johnson will post 11.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 25th will be paid a dividend of $1.34 per share. This represents a $5.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 25th. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.11%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on JNJ. HSBC set a $290.00 price target on Johnson & Johnson and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $270.00 price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $285.00 to $298.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Finally, Leerink Partners upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $265.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $265.30.

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.