World Investment Advisors Grows Stock Holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

World Investment Advisors grew its stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 14.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 94,923 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,187 shares during the quarter. World Investment Advisors’ holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $13,728,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. IFS Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 138.9% in the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 172 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new stake in Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE JNJ opened at $155.41 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $374.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.37, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.47. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $159.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $155.98. Johnson & Johnson has a 12-month low of $140.68 and a 12-month high of $169.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $2.04 earnings per share (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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.29 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

JNJ has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced 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. Argus raised Johnson & Johnson to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $166.00 to $152.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $159.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Leerink Partners reduced 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 note on Thursday, January 23rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Johnson & Johnson presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $171.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Johnson & Johnson

In other news, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 21,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,483,645.88. This represents a 25.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

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.