LifeSteps Financial Inc. Has $685,000 Stock Position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

LifeSteps Financial Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,739 shares of the company’s stock after selling 122 shares during the quarter. LifeSteps Financial Inc.’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $685,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of JNJ. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Johnson & Johnson during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the third quarter valued at $35,000. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the third quarter valued at $40,000. 69.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 directly owns 15,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,357,552.70. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark A. Weinberger bought 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $147.22 per share, with a total value of $147,220.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 1,000 shares in the company, valued at $147,220. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $190.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James decreased their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $160.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $185.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. 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 given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $170.67.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

JNJ opened at $163.81 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $149.33 and a 200-day moving average of $155.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.11. Johnson & Johnson has a 52-week low of $140.68 and a 52-week high of $168.85. The company has a market cap of $394.38 billion, a PE ratio of 24.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.52.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $22.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.44 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $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 forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $1.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.03%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.59%.

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.