Baxter Bros Inc. Sells 2,419 Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Baxter Bros Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 4.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 48,624 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,419 shares during the period. Baxter Bros Inc.’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $7,032,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of JNJ. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,339,878,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in Johnson & Johnson by 228.1% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,389,361 shares of the company’s stock valued at $549,223,000 after purchasing an additional 2,356,359 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 232,792,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,666,460,000 after buying an additional 1,772,706 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted 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 buying an additional 1,729,281 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 11,930,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,698,984,000 after acquiring an additional 1,660,458 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on JNJ. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $185.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Monday, March 10th. StockNews.com upgraded Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, January 25th. Leerink Partners dropped their price objective 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $155.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Nine equities research 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $171.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.88, for a total transaction of $1,160,994.12. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 21,001 shares in the company, valued at $3,483,645.88. This trade represents a 25.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,098 shares in the company, valued at $2,357,552.70. The trade was 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 currently owned by company insiders.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Johnson & Johnson stock opened at $163.43 on Tuesday. Johnson & Johnson has a fifty-two week low of $140.68 and a fifty-two week high of $169.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $393.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.58, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.47. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $157.37 and a 200 day moving average of $156.16.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.05. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 18.20% and a return on equity of 34.24%. The company had revenue of $22.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.29 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

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

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.