First Manhattan CO. LLC. Lowers Stock Holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

First Manhattan CO. LLC. lessened its position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 5.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 858,038 shares of the company’s stock after selling 48,845 shares during the period. First Manhattan CO. LLC.’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $125,396,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in JNJ. IFS Advisors LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Johnson & Johnson during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC bought a new stake in Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of the company’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 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 represents a 25.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 15,098 shares in the company, valued at $2,357,552.70. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on JNJ. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $157.00 to $172.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 25th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $181.00 target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $166.00 to $165.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $171.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $171.82.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

NYSE JNJ opened at $155.64 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $374.49 billion, a PE ratio of 23.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42. 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 has a 1-year low of $140.68 and a 1-year high of $169.99. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $158.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $154.44.

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

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be given a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 27th. This is a boost from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.34%. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is 57.84%.

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.