Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA Decreases Stock Position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA cut its holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 328,922 shares of the company’s stock after selling 12,549 shares during the quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $52,266,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Keener Financial Planning LLC purchased a new position in Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Tower View Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 183.3% during the 3rd quarter. Tower View Wealth Management LLC now owns 255 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 61.4% during the 4th quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 255 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Creative Capital Management Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 43.0% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Capital Management Investments LLC now owns 286 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd increased its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 37.8% during the 3rd quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on JNJ. HSBC raised shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $169.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. StockNews.com raised shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $181.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $180.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $168.00 to $167.00 and set an “equal weight” 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $175.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

Johnson & Johnson stock opened at $146.14 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $352.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $155.26 and a 200-day moving average of $155.29. Johnson & Johnson has a 52 week low of $143.13 and a 52 week high of $175.97.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The company reported $2.71 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 company had revenue of $21.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.68 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 21st will be paid a dividend of $1.24 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 yield of 3.39%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.68%.

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.