Level Four Advisory Services LLC Sells 1,771 Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Level Four Advisory Services LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 62,817 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,771 shares during the period. Level Four Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $9,085,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in JNJ. Vertex Planning Partners LLC increased its position in Johnson & Johnson by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Vertex Planning Partners LLC now owns 5,390 shares of the company’s stock valued at $780,000 after buying an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Slagle Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Slagle Financial LLC now owns 14,028 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,029,000 after purchasing an additional 644 shares during the last quarter. denkapparat Operations GmbH bought a new position in Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter worth about $911,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 12.3% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,422,482 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,719,000 after purchasing an additional 155,308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Broadway Wealth Solutions Inc. purchased a new position in Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter worth about $419,000. Institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Johnson & Johnson

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

Johnson & Johnson Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:JNJ opened at $163.22 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $158.35 and a 200 day moving average of $156.23. The company has a market cap of $393.33 billion, a PE ratio of 24.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.47. Johnson & Johnson has a 12-month low of $140.68 and a 12-month high of $169.99. 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 posted its quarterly 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 during 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 34.24%. The company’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.29 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on JNJ shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective 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. Barclays lifted their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $159.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $181.00 price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Johnson & Johnson presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.