Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Shares Sold by Whittier Trust Co.

Whittier Trust Co. lowered its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 35.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 216,936 shares of the company’s stock after selling 119,312 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $31,373,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of JNJ. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. grew its position in Johnson & Johnson by 40.7% in the 4th quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 65,024 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,404,000 after purchasing an additional 18,794 shares during the last quarter. Symmetry Partners LLC grew its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 13.2% in the 4th quarter. Symmetry Partners LLC now owns 4,971 shares of the company’s stock worth $719,000 after buying an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $825,000. iA Global Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 328,245 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,471,000 after acquiring an additional 8,458 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 38.2% in the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 1,008,456 shares of the company’s stock worth $145,843,000 after purchasing an additional 278,913 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

JNJ has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Argus upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $155.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James cut their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $159.00 to $166.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Nine 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $171.33.

Insider Activity

In other Johnson & Johnson news, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,098 shares in the company, valued at $2,357,552.70. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.88, for a total transaction of $1,160,994.12. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 21,001 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,483,645.88. This represents 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 owned by corporate insiders.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

Johnson & Johnson stock opened at $163.01 on Thursday. Johnson & Johnson has a fifty-two week low of $140.68 and a fifty-two week high of $169.99. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $156.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $156.30. 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 company has a market cap of $392.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.47.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $22.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.44 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 18.20% and a return on equity of 34.24%. The company’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.29 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $1.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.04%. 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.