Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Stake Lessened by Vickerman Investment Advisors Inc.

Vickerman Investment Advisors Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 18,109 shares of the company’s stock after selling 284 shares during the quarter. Vickerman Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $2,619,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp grew its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 0.9% in 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 grew its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 56,106,884 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,064,149,000 after acquiring an additional 1,004,763 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,316,920 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,968,440,000 after acquiring an additional 1,265,748 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,187,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,630,216,000 after purchasing an additional 547,714 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings 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. Institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on JNJ. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $155.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James decreased their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Leerink Partners dropped their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $182.00 to $169.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $166.00 to $152.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 25th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $171.33.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Down 0.0 %

JNJ stock opened at $162.93 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $156.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $156.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market capitalization of $392.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.47. Johnson & Johnson has a 52 week low of $140.68 and a 52 week high of $169.99.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last released 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. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 34.24% and a net margin of 18.20%. The firm had revenue of $22.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.29 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $1.24 per share. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is currently 74.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.88, for a total value of $1,160,994.12. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 21,001 shares in the company, valued at $3,483,645.88. The trade was a 25.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total transaction of $62,928.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,357,552.70. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.