Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Shares Sold by Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 24.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund 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.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 134,245,811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,755,874,000 after buying an additional 1,154,088 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 56,106,884 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,064,149,000 after purchasing an additional 1,004,763 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,316,920 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,968,440,000 after purchasing an additional 1,265,748 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,187,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,630,216,000 after purchasing an additional 547,714 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 16,840,069 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,721,355,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729,281 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

JNJ has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target 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. Bank of America increased their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $159.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $166.00 to $152.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $181.00 target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Leerink Partners cut their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $182.00 to $169.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $171.33.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE:JNJ opened at $163.40 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $393.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.47. Johnson & Johnson has a one year low of $140.68 and a one year high of $169.99. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $156.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $156.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.29 earnings per share. Johnson & Johnson’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Johnson & Johnson news, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,357,552.70. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of Johnson & Johnson 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 21,001 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,483,645.88. This trade represents 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 corporate insiders.

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.