Hartford Financial Management Inc. Sells 921 Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Hartford Financial Management Inc. lowered its position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 32,883 shares of the company’s stock after selling 921 shares during the period. Johnson & Johnson makes up 1.1% of Hartford Financial Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Hartford Financial Management Inc.’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $5,329,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in JNJ. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 20,130.0% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,454,473 shares of the company’s stock worth $559,832,000 after acquiring an additional 3,437,397 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 506.9% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,884,962 shares of the company’s stock worth $567,826,000 after acquiring an additional 3,244,862 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 16.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 21,834,359 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,453,978,000 after acquiring an additional 3,139,499 shares in the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 59.0% in the second quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 6,708,943 shares of the company’s stock worth $980,579,000 after acquiring an additional 2,489,925 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new position in Johnson & Johnson in the first quarter worth approximately $331,178,000. Institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on JNJ. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $169.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup raised their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $163.00 to $166.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com raised Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 14th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $161.00 to $171.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $175.93.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

Shares of NYSE JNJ opened at $160.13 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $385.53 billion, a PE ratio of 23.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.52. Johnson & Johnson has a fifty-two week low of $143.13 and a fifty-two week high of $168.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 1.03. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $163.31 and a 200-day moving average of $155.44.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $22.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.17 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 35.45% and a net margin of 19.14%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.66 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Johnson & Johnson will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a dividend of $1.24 per share. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 26th. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio is 71.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Johnson & Johnson news, VP Robert J. Decker sold 5,635 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.06, for a total transaction of $930,113.10. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 18,973 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,131,683.38. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Johnson & Johnson 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.