Biondo Investment Advisors LLC Purchases 1,289 Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Biondo Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 58,674 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,289 shares during the period. Biondo Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $8,485,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of JNJ. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 10.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,472,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $562,723,000 after acquiring an additional 329,473 shares during the last quarter. United Bank raised its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 3,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $614,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC purchased a new position in Johnson & Johnson in the third quarter valued at approximately $721,000. Suvretta Capital Management LLC increased its position in Johnson & Johnson by 53.7% in the third quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 138,447 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,437,000 after buying an additional 48,350 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Isthmus Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.8% in the third quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC now owns 97,495 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,800,000 after buying an additional 1,765 shares during the period. 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 the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,357,552.70. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 21,001 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,483,645.88. The trade was 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 insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

JNJ has been the subject of several recent research reports. Argus raised Johnson & Johnson to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Raymond James lowered their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $159.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $155.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $159.00 to $166.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Nine 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $171.33.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Up 0.3 %

JNJ opened at $163.63 on Friday. 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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $158.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $156.21. Johnson & Johnson has a 52 week low of $140.68 and a 52 week high of $169.99. The stock has a market cap of $394.32 billion, a PE ratio of 24.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.47.

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

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $1.24 per share. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.59%.

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.