Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC Decreases Position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC cut its stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 3.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,324 shares of the company’s stock after selling 85 shares during the quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $340,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,019,725 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,764,852,000 after acquiring an additional 3,391,657 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 16.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 21,834,359 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,453,978,000 after acquiring an additional 3,139,499 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 10.8% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 18,780,645 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,744,979,000 after acquiring an additional 1,831,751 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 16.2% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 13,147,352 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,921,565,000 after acquiring an additional 1,829,257 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 5.8% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 8,014,213 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,171,357,000 after acquiring an additional 437,637 shares during the period. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

JNJ has been the subject of several recent research reports. Daiwa America lowered shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $175.00 target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $215.00 target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $160.00 to $155.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $173.21.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

JNJ stock opened at $166.17 on Thursday. Johnson & Johnson has a one year low of $143.13 and a one year high of $168.85. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $160.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $154.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.07. The company has a market capitalization of $399.92 billion, a PE ratio of 10.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.53.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The company reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.71 by $0.11. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 46.34% and a return on equity of 36.60%. The firm had revenue of $22.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.80 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th were paid a dividend of $1.24 per share. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is 30.92%.

Insider Activity at Johnson & Johnson

In related news, VP Robert J. Decker sold 5,635 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.06, for a total transaction of $930,113.10. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 18,973 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,131,683.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson, together with its subsidiaries, researches, develops, manufactures, and sells various products in the healthcare field worldwide. The company's Innovative Medicine segment offers products for various therapeutic areas, such as immunology, including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and psoriasis; infectious diseases comprising HIV/AIDS; neuroscience, consisting of mood disorders, neurodegenerative disorders, and schizophrenia; oncology, such as prostate cancer, hematologic malignancies, lung cancer, and bladder cancer; cardiovascular and metabolism, including thrombosis, diabetes, and macular degeneration; and pulmonary hypertension comprising pulmonary arterial hypertension through retailers, wholesalers, distributors, hospitals, and healthcare professionals for prescription use.