Fmr LLC Trims Stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Fmr LLC reduced its stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 12.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,079,929 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,236,991 shares during the period. Fmr LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $2,325,479,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 138.9% in the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 172 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new position in Johnson & Johnson during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on JNJ. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $181.00 price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $155.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Bank of America upped their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $159.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Argus raised Johnson & Johnson to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday. Nine 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $171.33.

Insider Activity at Johnson & Johnson

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

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

NYSE JNJ opened at $153.03 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $159.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $155.84. The company has a market capitalization of $368.77 billion, a PE ratio of 23.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.47. Johnson & Johnson has a 1 year low of $140.68 and a 1 year high of $169.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last released its quarterly 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 return on equity of 34.24% and a net margin of 18.20%. The firm had revenue of $22.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.29 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current year.

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.