Argus Investors Counsel Inc. Purchases 84 Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Argus Investors Counsel Inc. grew its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,392 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the quarter. Argus Investors Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $1,472,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 4J Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. 4J Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,835 shares of the company’s stock valued at $444,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. My Personal CFO LLC raised its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. My Personal CFO LLC now owns 4,550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $713,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. FIDELIS iM LLC raised its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. FIDELIS iM LLC now owns 2,117 shares of the company’s stock valued at $374,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the period. Clearview Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Clearview Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,373 shares of the company’s stock valued at $685,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the period. Finally, Brookmont Capital Management grew its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Brookmont Capital Management now owns 14,852 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,328,000 after buying an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Johnson & Johnson

In other news, EVP Jennifer L. Taubert sold 59,397 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.27, for a total transaction of $9,281,969.19. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 141,416 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,099,078.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Jennifer L. Taubert sold 59,397 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.27, for a total transaction of $9,281,969.19. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 141,416 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,099,078.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder & Johnson Johnson sold 3,725 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.81, for a total transaction of $96,142.25. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 4,099,575 shares in the company, valued at approximately $105,810,030.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Raymond James lifted their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $172.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $181.00 price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $169.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $215.00 price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com raised Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $177.31.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

Shares of JNJ stock opened at $147.49 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.16. Johnson & Johnson has a fifty-two week low of $144.95 and a fifty-two week high of $175.97. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $157.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $155.90. The company has a market capitalization of $355.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.68, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.53.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The company reported $2.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $21.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.02 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 37.27% and a net margin of 37.79%. The business’s revenue was down 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.35 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.66 earnings per share for the current year.

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.