Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp Acquires New Shares in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 1,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $224,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vinva Investment Management Ltd boosted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 6.8% in the third quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 111,448 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,988,000 after purchasing an additional 7,110 shares during the last quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 185,093 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,996,000 after buying an additional 9,309 shares during the last quarter. Oregon Pacific Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter worth $949,000. Horan Securities Inc. increased its position in Johnson & Johnson by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Horan Securities Inc. now owns 7,178 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,038,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 57.9% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 3,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $501,000 after purchasing an additional 1,271 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

JNJ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $159.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley dropped 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 note on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup decreased their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $185.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Argus raised Johnson & Johnson to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $155.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $171.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,357,552.70. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.88, for a total value of $1,160,994.12. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 21,001 shares in the company, valued at $3,483,645.88. The trade was a 25.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

NYSE JNJ opened at $161.14 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.86. Johnson & Johnson has a 1-year low of $140.68 and a 1-year high of $169.99. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $157.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $156.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $388.32 billion, a PE ratio of 24.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.47.

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

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $1.24 dividend. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is 74.59%.

About Johnson & Johnson

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.