Lynx Investment Advisory Acquires 229 Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Lynx Investment Advisory grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 12.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,088 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 229 shares during the period. Lynx Investment Advisory’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $302,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. ICW Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC now owns 16,568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,396,000 after purchasing an additional 1,193 shares during the last quarter. TAGStone Capital Inc. lifted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. TAGStone Capital Inc. now owns 22,742 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,289,000 after acquiring an additional 391 shares during the last quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC boosted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC now owns 89,712 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,974,000 after acquiring an additional 4,041 shares in the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association grew its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 443,687 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,166,000 after purchasing an additional 12,206 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $175.00 to $163.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $159.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $166.00 to $152.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $181.00 price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Raymond James dropped their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $171.33.

Insider Activity at Johnson & Johnson

In other news, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total transaction of $62,928.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,357,552.70. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 21,001 shares in the company, valued at $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 currently owned by company insiders.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

JNJ stock opened at $163.40 on Monday. Johnson & Johnson has a 52-week low of $140.68 and a 52-week high of $169.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $393.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.47. The business has a fifty day moving average of $156.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $156.17.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last posted its 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 net margin of 18.20% and a return on equity of 34.24%. The company had revenue of $22.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.44 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.29 earnings per share. Johnson & Johnson’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $1.24 per share. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.