UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp Cuts Stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp lowered its stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 3.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 71,449 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,644 shares during the quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $10,333,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

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

Insider Activity at Johnson & Johnson

In other news, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.88, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 25.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were 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. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Down 1.3 %

Johnson & Johnson stock opened at $161.14 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $388.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.23, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.47. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $157.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $156.14.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $22.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.44 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 34.24% and a net margin of 18.20%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.29 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $1.24 dividend. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.08%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is currently 74.59%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on JNJ shares. Citigroup cut their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $185.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $175.00 to $163.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, January 25th. Leerink Partners cut their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $182.00 to $169.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Monday, March 10th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $171.33.

Johnson & Johnson 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.