Treasurer of the State of North Carolina Acquires 47,720 Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,155,604 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 47,720 shares during the quarter. Johnson & Johnson accounts for about 0.7% of Treasurer of the State of North Carolina’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $167,123,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of JNJ. Norges Bank bought a new position in Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth about $4,390,037,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,339,878,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 232,792,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,666,460,000 after buying an additional 1,772,706 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 16,840,069 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,721,355,000 after buying an additional 1,729,281 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 11,930,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,698,984,000 after buying an additional 1,660,458 shares during the period. 69.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

JNJ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $157.00 to $172.00 in a report on Wednesday. Argus upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Leerink Partners reduced their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $182.00 to $169.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $159.00 to $166.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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 note on Thursday, January 23rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $172.33.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE JNJ opened at $149.02 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $359.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.41, 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. 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’s 50 day moving average price is $159.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $155.37.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.05. The firm 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.29 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Johnson & Johnson news, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total transaction of $62,928.45. Following the completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction 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. This represents a 25.00 % 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 company 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.