Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC Has $1.68 Million Stock Position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 9.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 11,642 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,148 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $1,684,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vinva Investment Management Ltd increased its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 6.8% in the third quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 111,448 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,988,000 after purchasing an additional 7,110 shares during the last quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. raised its position in Johnson & Johnson by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 185,093 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,996,000 after buying an additional 9,309 shares during the last quarter. Oregon Pacific Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth $949,000. Horan Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Horan Securities Inc. now owns 7,178 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,038,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 57.9% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 3,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $501,000 after buying an additional 1,271 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Johnson & Johnson

In other Johnson & Johnson news, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 21,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,483,645.88. This trade represents a 25.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,357,552.70. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on JNJ shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of 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 research note on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $185.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Leerink Partners reduced their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $182.00 to $169.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $166.00 to $152.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $171.33.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:JNJ opened at $163.40 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $393.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.57, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.47. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $156.99 and its 200-day moving average is $156.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Johnson & Johnson has a twelve month low of $140.68 and a twelve month high of $169.99.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $2.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.05. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 18.20% and a return on equity of 34.24%. The company had revenue of $22.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.29 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $1.24 per share. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio is 74.59%.

Johnson & Johnson Company 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.