Distillate Capital Partners LLC Cuts Position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Distillate Capital Partners LLC reduced its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 49.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 361,161 shares of the company’s stock after selling 355,641 shares during the period. Johnson & Johnson makes up about 2.6% of Distillate Capital Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Distillate Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $52,231,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of JNJ. IFS Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 138.9% during the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 172 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new position in Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Johnson & Johnson

In other news, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total value of $62,928.45. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,357,552.70. This represents a 2.60 % 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.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE JNJ opened at $151.62 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $365.39 billion, a PE ratio of 22.80, a PEG 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $159.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $155.21.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.05. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 34.24% and a net margin of 18.20%. The firm had revenue of $22.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.29 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on JNJ. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $159.00 to $166.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $171.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $157.00 to $172.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $155.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Leerink Partners cut their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $182.00 to $169.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Johnson & Johnson presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $171.67.

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.