Steph & Co. Trims Position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Steph & Co. lessened its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 23.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,320 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,294 shares during the quarter. Steph & Co.’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $677,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 6,061,707 shares of the company’s stock worth $950,112,000 after purchasing an additional 26,982 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 4,396,416 shares of the company’s stock worth $688,198,000 after purchasing an additional 200,193 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 2.9% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 4,306,268 shares of the company’s stock worth $670,726,000 after purchasing an additional 120,891 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 22.2% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,957,429 shares of the company’s stock worth $616,370,000 after purchasing an additional 719,472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC grew its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 11.4% during the third quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 3,744,857 shares of the company’s stock worth $583,261,000 after purchasing an additional 382,035 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on JNJ. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $181.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Raymond James boosted their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $172.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $215.00 target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Monday, April 15th. StockNews.com upgraded Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $180.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Johnson & Johnson has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $175.86.

Insider Activity

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

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

Shares of JNJ stock opened at $149.56 on Wednesday. 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 $143.13 and a fifty-two week high of $175.97. The company has a market capitalization of $360.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.32, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.53. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $155.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $155.51.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The company reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.07. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 36.43% and a net margin of 45.26%. The firm had revenue of $21.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.68 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 21st will be paid a dividend of $1.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 20th. This is a boost from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.19. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.32%. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is 30.92%.

Johnson & Johnson Company Profile

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.