Legal & General Group Plc Cuts Position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 19.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 18,509,433 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,603,436 shares during the quarter. Johnson & Johnson comprises 0.7% of Legal & General Group Plc’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $2,676,834,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 232,792,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,666,460,000 after buying an additional 1,772,706 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Johnson & Johnson by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 57,667,920 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,321,881,000 after purchasing an additional 1,561,036 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter valued at about $4,390,037,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,356,572 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,522,447,000 after purchasing an additional 431,205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 19,126,079 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,766,014,000 after buying an additional 1,171,975 shares in the last quarter. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Johnson & Johnson

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on JNJ. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $166.00 to $152.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Bank of America upped their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $159.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $155.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Argus upgraded Johnson & Johnson to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $171.33.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Down 4.3 %

Shares of JNJ stock opened at $153.03 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $159.75 and a 200-day moving average of $155.76. The stock has a market cap of $368.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.49. Johnson & Johnson has a 52-week low of $140.68 and a 52-week high of $169.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $2.04 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $22.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.29 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson 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.