Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Position Reduced by Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 24.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 448 shares of the company’s stock after selling 142 shares during the quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $65,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in JNJ. IFS Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 138.9% during the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 172 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Johnson & Johnson during the third quarter worth approximately $35,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC raised its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 145.8% during the fourth quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 290 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on JNJ shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $175.00 to $163.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $159.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Leerink Partners decreased their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $182.00 to $169.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $185.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Johnson & Johnson has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $171.33.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total value of $62,928.45. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,357,552.70. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.88, for a total transaction of $1,160,994.12. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 21,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,483,645.88. This represents a 25.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Up 0.2 %

Johnson & Johnson stock opened at $163.40 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $156.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $156.25. 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 has a 12 month low of $140.68 and a 12 month high of $169.99. The stock has a market cap of $393.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.47.

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. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 18.20% and a return on equity of 34.24%. The business had revenue of $22.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.29 EPS. Johnson & Johnson’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $1.24 per share. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.