Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Trims Holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC trimmed its stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,677,764 shares of the company’s stock after selling 47,522 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $242,638,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in JNJ. State Street Corp increased its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 134,245,811 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,755,874,000 after buying an additional 1,154,088 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Johnson & Johnson by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,316,920 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,968,440,000 after purchasing an additional 1,265,748 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Johnson & Johnson by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,187,082 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,630,216,000 after purchasing an additional 547,714 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Johnson & Johnson by 11.4% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. 69.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Johnson & Johnson

In related news, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,357,552.70. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 21,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,483,645.88. The trade was a 25.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

Shares of Johnson & Johnson stock opened at $162.93 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $154.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $156.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $392.27 billion, a PE ratio of 24.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.47. Johnson & Johnson has a 52 week low of $140.68 and a 52 week high of $169.99.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $22.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.44 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 34.24% and a net margin of 18.20%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.29 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $1.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.04%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.59%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

JNJ has been the subject of several research reports. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $185.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of 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. Raymond James cut their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Leerink Partners cut their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $182.00 to $169.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $159.00 to $166.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $171.33.

Johnson & Johnson 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.