ELCO Management Co. LLC Decreases Stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

ELCO Management Co. LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,013 shares of the company’s stock after selling 100 shares during the period. ELCO Management Co. LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $580,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. MRP Capital Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. MRP Capital Investments LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the company’s stock worth $237,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Syverson Strege & Co boosted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 1,394 shares of the company’s stock worth $202,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management now owns 2,080 shares of the company’s stock valued at $301,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Denali Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 5,128 shares of the company’s stock valued at $742,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Finally, Sage Mountain Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 14,564 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,106,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Johnson & Johnson

In other news, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 21,001 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,483,645.88. This trade represents a 25.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,357,552.70. This 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

JNJ has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $181.00 price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $166.00 to $152.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Argus upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $185.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $159.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Johnson & Johnson has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $171.33.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

JNJ opened at $149.24 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $159.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $155.51. The firm has a market cap of $359.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.44, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.49. Johnson & Johnson has a 1 year low of $140.68 and a 1 year high of $169.99.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last posted 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. 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.29 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current year.

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.