Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. Trims Holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. lowered its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 31,092 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,289 shares during the period. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC.’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $4,497,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in JNJ. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 0.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 134,245,811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,755,874,000 after purchasing an additional 1,154,088 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 56,106,884 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,064,149,000 after buying an additional 1,004,763 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 7.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,316,920 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,968,440,000 after acquiring an additional 1,265,748 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 0.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,639,368 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,858,543,000 after acquiring an additional 102,502 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 11.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 16,840,069 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,721,355,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729,281 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 25th. Leerink Partners reduced their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $182.00 to $169.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $166.00 to $152.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Bank of America decreased their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $160.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on Johnson & Johnson in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $190.00 price objective on the stock. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Johnson & Johnson currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $170.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Mark A. Weinberger bought 1,000 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $147.22 per share, with a total value of $147,220.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 1,000 shares in the company, valued at $147,220. This represents a ? increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total value of $62,928.45. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,357,552.70. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:JNJ opened at $157.93 on Thursday. Johnson & Johnson has a 52 week low of $140.68 and a 52 week high of $168.85. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $148.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $155.86. The company has a market cap of $380.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.75, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $2.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $22.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.44 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 34.24% and a net margin of 18.20%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.29 EPS. Research analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $1.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.14%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.59%.

Johnson & Johnson Company Profile

Johnson & Johnson is a holding company, which engages in the research, development, manufacture, and sale of products in the healthcare field. It operates through the Innovative Medicine and MedTech segments. The Innovative Medicine segment focuses on immunology, infectious diseases, neuroscience, oncology, cardiovascular and metabolism, and pulmonary hypertension.