Advisors Preferred LLC Sells 457 Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Advisors Preferred LLC trimmed its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 13.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,970 shares of the company’s stock after selling 457 shares during the quarter. Advisors Preferred LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $428,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 0.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 134,245,811 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,755,874,000 after purchasing an additional 1,154,088 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 56,106,884 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,064,149,000 after buying an additional 1,004,763 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,316,920 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,968,440,000 after buying an additional 1,265,748 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,639,368 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,858,543,000 after buying an additional 102,502 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Johnson & Johnson by 11.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 16,840,069 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,721,355,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729,281 shares during the period. 69.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

Shares of JNJ opened at $156.18 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $376.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.49, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 1.03. Johnson & Johnson has a twelve month low of $140.68 and a twelve month high of $168.85. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $147.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $156.04.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last announced its 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 firm 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 34.35%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.29 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a $1.24 dividend. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.59%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on JNJ shares. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $162.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $160.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $215.00 price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com raised Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 25th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $185.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $170.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Johnson & Johnson news, Director Mark A. Weinberger purchased 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $147.22 per share, with a total value of $147,220.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $147,220. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.