Financial Counselors Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Financial Counselors Inc. lowered its position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 8.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 168,931 shares of the company’s stock after selling 16,162 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $24,431,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. IFS Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 138.9% during the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 172 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new position in Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Johnson & Johnson in the third quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. 69.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Johnson & Johnson

In other Johnson & Johnson news, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,357,552.70. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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. This trade represents 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 Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of Johnson & Johnson stock opened at $161.14 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $157.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $156.14. The firm has a market cap of $388.32 billion, a PE ratio of 24.23, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.47. Johnson & Johnson has a 1 year low of $140.68 and a 1 year high of $169.99. 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 (NYSE:JNJ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $2.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.05. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 34.24% and a net margin of 18.20%. The business had revenue of $22.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.44 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.29 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $1.24 dividend. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.08%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.59%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on JNJ shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $181.00 price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com raised Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 25th. Leerink Partners decreased their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $182.00 to $169.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $175.00 to $163.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price 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. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Johnson & Johnson presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $171.33.

Johnson & Johnson Company 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.