Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Sells 11,573 Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado cut its holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 321,765 shares of the company’s stock after selling 11,573 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $46,534,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

JNJ stock opened at $154.54 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $159.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $154.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Johnson & Johnson has a 12-month low of $140.68 and a 12-month high of $169.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $371.83 billion, a PE ratio of 23.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.49.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.18. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 34.24% and a net margin of 18.20%. The firm had revenue of $21.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.65 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on JNJ. StockNews.com raised Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 25th. Argus upgraded Johnson & Johnson to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. 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 research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $166.00 to $165.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $171.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,098 shares in the company, valued at $2,357,552.70. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 value of $1,160,994.12. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 21,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,483,645.88. This trade represents a 25.00 % decrease in their position. 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.