Sowell Financial Services LLC Decreases Holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Sowell Financial Services LLC decreased its holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 58,055 shares of the company’s stock after selling 644 shares during the period. Sowell Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $8,396,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 0.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 134,245,811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,755,874,000 after buying an additional 1,154,088 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 56,106,884 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,064,149,000 after acquiring an additional 1,004,763 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in Johnson & Johnson by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,316,920 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,968,440,000 after acquiring an additional 1,265,748 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,187,082 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,630,216,000 after purchasing an additional 547,714 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 11.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 16,840,069 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,721,355,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729,281 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Up 0.6 %

Johnson & Johnson stock opened at $166.81 on Friday. Johnson & Johnson has a 12 month low of $140.68 and a 12 month high of $169.99. The company has a market capitalization of $401.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.47. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $152.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $156.28. 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 (NYSE:JNJ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $2.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $22.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.44 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 18.20% and a return on equity of 34.24%. Johnson & Johnson’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.29 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a $1.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.97%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.59%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James dropped their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $181.00 price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Bank of America upped their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $159.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $175.00 to $163.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Leerink Partners decreased their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $182.00 to $169.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $171.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of the 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 21,001 shares in the company, valued at $3,483,645.88. The trade was a 25.00 % 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.

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.