West Tower Group LLC Buys Shares of 2,900 Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

West Tower Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 2,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $419,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in JNJ. Vinva Investment Management Ltd boosted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 111,448 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,988,000 after acquiring an additional 7,110 shares during the last quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. boosted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 185,093 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,996,000 after acquiring an additional 9,309 shares during the last quarter. Oregon Pacific Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Johnson & Johnson during the 4th quarter worth approximately $949,000. Horan Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Horan Securities Inc. now owns 7,178 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,038,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 57.9% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 3,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $501,000 after acquiring an additional 1,271 shares during the last quarter. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

Shares of JNJ opened at $164.24 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $395.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.70, 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’s fifty day simple moving average is $155.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $156.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $22.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.44 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 18.20% and a return on equity of 34.24%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.29 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast 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. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $1.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.02%. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is 74.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Johnson & Johnson news, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.88, for a total transaction of $1,160,994.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 21,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,483,645.88. The trade was a 25.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total transaction of $62,928.45. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,357,552.70. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

JNJ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Leerink Partners reduced their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley reduced 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 research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $159.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $181.00 target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $155.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Johnson & Johnson has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $171.33.

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.