Lawson Kroeker Investment Management Inc. NE Lowers Stock Holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Lawson Kroeker Investment Management Inc. NE lowered its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 52,397 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,029 shares during the period. Johnson & Johnson makes up 1.4% of Lawson Kroeker Investment Management Inc. NE’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Lawson Kroeker Investment Management Inc. NE’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $7,578,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of JNJ. State Street Corp grew its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 134,245,811 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,755,874,000 after buying an additional 1,154,088 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.8% during 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 during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Johnson & Johnson by 7.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,316,920 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,968,440,000 after acquiring an additional 1,265,748 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Johnson & Johnson by 0.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,639,368 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,858,543,000 after purchasing an additional 102,502 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 11.4% during 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 last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on JNJ shares. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $185.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $155.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Leerink Partners reduced their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $182.00 to $169.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of 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, Argus upgraded Johnson & Johnson to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $170.44.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

JNJ stock opened at $152.09 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $147.61 and a 200 day moving average of $156.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of $366.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.87, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.51. Johnson & Johnson has a 1 year low of $140.68 and a 1 year high of $168.85.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $22.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.44 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 34.35% and a net margin of 18.20%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.29 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $1.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is 74.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Mark A. Weinberger purchased 1,000 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $147.22 per share, with a total value of $147,220.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $147,220. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

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.