Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC Reduces Position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,470 shares of the company’s stock after selling 407 shares during the period. Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $1,080,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of JNJ. Stevens Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth about $1,434,000. LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 3,962,861 shares of the company’s stock valued at $573,109,000 after acquiring an additional 248,601 shares during the last quarter. Richwood Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Richwood Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,648 shares of the company’s stock worth $528,000 after acquiring an additional 396 shares during the period. M Holdings Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $354,000. Finally, Banco de Sabadell S.A increased its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Banco de Sabadell S.A now owns 14,660 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,119,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the period. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Up 0.2 %

JNJ opened at $163.40 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $393.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.57, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.47. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $156.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $156.25. Johnson & Johnson has a 52 week low of $140.68 and a 52 week high of $169.99. 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 (NYSE:JNJ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.05. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 18.20% and a return on equity of 34.24%. The business had revenue of $22.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.29 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $1.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.04%. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is currently 74.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, 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 value of $1,160,994.12. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 21,001 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,483,645.88. The trade was a 25.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of Johnson & Johnson 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,357,552.70. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

JNJ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $175.00 to $163.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $185.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Monday, March 10th. Barclays increased their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $159.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Johnson & Johnson to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Johnson & Johnson presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $171.33.

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.