Wills Financial Group Inc. Has $788,000 Holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Wills Financial Group Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 5.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 5,448 shares of the company’s stock after selling 322 shares during the quarter. Wills Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $788,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter worth about $4,390,037,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter valued at $1,339,878,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 232,792,559 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,666,460,000 after acquiring an additional 1,772,706 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Johnson & Johnson by 11.4% in the 3rd 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. Finally, Amundi boosted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 11,930,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,698,984,000 after acquiring an additional 1,660,458 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on JNJ. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $166.00 to $165.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $155.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $164.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Raymond James lowered their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $171.82.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:JNJ opened at $154.54 on Friday. 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $159.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $154.88. The company has a market capitalization of $372.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.49. 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 quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $21.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.65 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 18.20% and a return on equity of 34.24%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This is a boost from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.36%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.84%.

Insider Activity at Johnson & Johnson

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