Bell Asset Management Ltd Purchases 30,351 Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Bell Asset Management Ltd raised its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 54.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 86,299 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 30,351 shares during the period. Johnson & Johnson makes up approximately 2.3% of Bell Asset Management Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Bell Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $12,481,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Johnson & Johnson during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,390,037,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth $1,339,878,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 232,792,559 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,666,460,000 after buying an additional 1,772,706 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,729,281 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 11,930,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,698,984,000 after acquiring an additional 1,660,458 shares in the last quarter. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $3,483,645.88. This represents a 25.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was 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. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Citigroup dropped their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $185.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, January 25th. Raymond James reduced their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Leerink Partners dropped their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $182.00 to $169.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $159.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $171.33.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Down 4.3 %

Shares of JNJ stock opened at $153.03 on Monday. Johnson & Johnson has a fifty-two week low of $140.68 and a fifty-two 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $159.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $155.76. The company has a market cap of $368.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.01, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.49.

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

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.