Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 45,299 shares of the company’s stock after selling 189 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $6,551,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of JNJ. IFS Advisors LLC grew its position in Johnson & Johnson by 138.9% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Johnson & Johnson in the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. Activest Wealth Management bought a new position in Johnson & Johnson in the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC grew its position in Johnson & Johnson by 145.8% in the 4th quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 290 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Johnson & Johnson

In other Johnson & Johnson news, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,357,552.70. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.88, for a total value of $1,160,994.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 21,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,483,645.88. The trade was 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

JNJ has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Leerink Partners cut their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $182.00 to $169.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $155.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $166.00 to $152.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $181.00 price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $162.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $171.33.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE JNJ opened at $165.66 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $152.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $156.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.86. Johnson & Johnson has a 1-year low of $140.68 and a 1-year high of $169.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $398.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.52.

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

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $1.24 dividend. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.59%.

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.