VSM Wealth Advisory LLC Purchases Shares of 5,303 Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 5,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $767,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vinva Investment Management Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 111,448 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,988,000 after purchasing an additional 7,110 shares during the last quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 185,093 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,996,000 after purchasing an additional 9,309 shares during the last quarter. Oregon Pacific Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter worth about $949,000. Horan Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Horan Securities Inc. now owns 7,178 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,038,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 57.9% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 3,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $501,000 after purchasing an additional 1,271 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on JNJ. Bank of America increased their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $166.00 to $152.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $175.00 to $163.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James decreased their price objective 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $181.00 target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Johnson & Johnson presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $171.33.

Insider Activity

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 shares were 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 $3,483,645.88. This trade represents a 25.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total transaction of $62,928.45. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,098 shares in the company, valued at $2,357,552.70. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

Shares of JNJ opened at $164.24 on Wednesday. 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 twelve month low of $140.68 and a twelve month high of $169.99. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $155.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $156.25. The firm has a market cap of $395.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.70, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.47.

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

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $1.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.02%. 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.