GQG Partners LLC Cuts Stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

GQG Partners LLC cut its holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 99.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,635 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,501,005 shares during the quarter. GQG Partners LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $236,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in JNJ. IFS Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 138.9% in the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 172 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new stake in Johnson & Johnson during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on JNJ. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $185.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $166.00 to $152.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $175.00 to $163.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Bank of America lifted their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $159.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Leerink Partners lowered their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $182.00 to $169.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Johnson & Johnson has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $171.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Johnson & Johnson

In other news, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction on 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 directly 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 21,001 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,483,645.88. The trade was a 25.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

Johnson & Johnson stock opened at $163.43 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $157.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $156.16. The stock has a market cap of $393.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.86. Johnson & Johnson has a 1-year low of $140.68 and a 1-year high of $169.99.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.05. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 34.24% and a net margin of 18.20%. The company had revenue of $22.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.29 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.