Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV Cuts Position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV lessened its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,884 shares of the company’s stock after selling 89 shares during the quarter. Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $611,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 141,833,756 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,476,323,000 after purchasing an additional 1,568,633 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 90,144.4% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 54,386,720 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,607,414,000 after purchasing an additional 54,326,454 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 42,224,521 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,458,962,000 after purchasing an additional 4,521,062 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,609,399,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,189,229 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,046,449,000 after purchasing an additional 328,297 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on JNJ shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut Johnson & Johnson from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $170.00 to $163.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $169.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. UBS Group upgraded Johnson & Johnson from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $167.00 to $180.00 in a report on Friday, December 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $181.00 target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $177.31.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of JNJ stock opened at $157.96 on Thursday. Johnson & Johnson has a 1-year low of $144.95 and a 1-year high of $175.97. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $158.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $156.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company has a market cap of $380.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.53.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The company reported $2.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $21.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.02 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 37.27% and a net margin of 37.79%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.35 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $1.19 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. This represents a $4.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.01%. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is presently 34.47%.

Insider Transactions at Johnson & Johnson

In other news, EVP Jennifer L. Taubert sold 59,397 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.27, for a total value of $9,281,969.19. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 141,416 shares in the company, valued at $22,099,078.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP Jennifer L. Taubert sold 59,397 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.27, for a total value of $9,281,969.19. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 141,416 shares in the company, valued at $22,099,078.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder & Johnson Johnson sold 3,725 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.81, for a total transaction of $96,142.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 4,099,575 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $105,810,030.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Johnson & Johnson Company Profile

Johnson & Johnson, together with its subsidiaries, researches, develops, manufactures, and sells various products in the healthcare field worldwide. The company's Innovative Medicine segment offers products for various therapeutic areas, such as immunology, including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and psoriasis; infectious diseases comprising HIV/AIDS; neuroscience, consisting of mood disorders, neurodegenerative disorders, and schizophrenia; oncology, such as prostate cancer, hematologic malignancies, lung cancer, and bladder cancer; cardiovascular and metabolism, including thrombosis, diabetes, and macular degeneration; and pulmonary hypertension comprising pulmonary arterial hypertension through retailers, wholesalers, distributors, hospitals, and healthcare professionals for prescription use.