Novus Advisors LLC Takes $822,000 Position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Novus Advisors LLC bought a new position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 5,684 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $822,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 0.9% in 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 1.8% in 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,316,920 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,968,440,000 after purchasing an additional 1,265,748 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,187,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,630,216,000 after purchasing an additional 547,714 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 11.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 16,840,069 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,721,355,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729,281 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Up 0.6 %

JNJ stock opened at $166.81 on Friday. Johnson & Johnson has a fifty-two week low of $140.68 and a fifty-two week high of $169.99. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $152.95 and a 200-day moving average of $156.30. The company has a market capitalization of $401.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.08, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $22.52 billion during 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 was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.29 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $1.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.97%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.59%.

Insider Transactions at Johnson & Johnson

In other news, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total value of $62,928.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,357,552.70. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of the business’s 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 directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on JNJ shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $181.00 target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $162.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. 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 report on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $159.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $155.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Nine research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $171.33.

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.