Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Shares Sold by Country Trust Bank

Country Trust Bank trimmed its holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 43.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 113,535 shares of the company’s stock after selling 88,337 shares during the quarter. Country Trust Bank’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $16,419,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of JNJ. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Johnson & Johnson by 20,130.0% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,454,473 shares of the company’s stock valued at $559,832,000 after buying an additional 3,437,397 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in Johnson & Johnson by 228.1% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,389,361 shares of the company’s stock valued at $549,223,000 after buying an additional 2,356,359 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew 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 buying an additional 1,729,281 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the 3rd quarter worth $225,040,000. Finally, FMR LLC grew 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. 69.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on JNJ. Leerink Partners lowered 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. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $166.00 to $152.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 25th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $160.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered 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. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Johnson & Johnson currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $170.67.

Insider Transactions at Johnson & Johnson

In related news, Director Mark A. Weinberger acquired 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $147.22 per share, for a total transaction of $147,220.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 1,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $147,220. The trade was a ? increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

NYSE:JNJ opened at $151.82 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $365.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company’s 50-day moving average is $147.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $156.12. Johnson & Johnson has a 12-month low of $140.68 and a 12-month high of $168.85.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $22.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.44 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 18.20% and a return on equity of 34.35%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.29 EPS. Research analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $1.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.27%. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is currently 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.