ARS Investment Partners LLC Sells 3,139 Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

ARS Investment Partners LLC decreased its stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 6.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 49,105 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,139 shares during the period. ARS Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $7,102,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 0.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 134,245,811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,755,874,000 after purchasing an additional 1,154,088 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 56,106,884 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,064,149,000 after purchasing an additional 1,004,763 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Johnson & Johnson by 7.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,316,920 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,968,440,000 after acquiring an additional 1,265,748 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Johnson & Johnson by 0.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,639,368 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,858,543,000 after acquiring an additional 102,502 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Johnson & Johnson by 11.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 16,840,069 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,721,355,000 after acquiring an additional 1,729,281 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Johnson & Johnson news, Director Mark A. Weinberger purchased 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $147.22 per share, for a total transaction of $147,220.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $147,220. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE JNJ opened at $146.58 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Johnson & Johnson has a twelve month low of $140.68 and a twelve month high of $168.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $352.91 billion, a PE ratio of 21.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.51. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $148.10 and its 200 day moving average is $156.05.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.05. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 35.45% and a net margin of 19.14%. The company had revenue of $22.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22,438,500 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.29 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 9.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $1.24 dividend. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

JNJ has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $160.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $181.00 price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $155.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $166.00 to $152.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Leerink Partners decreased their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $182.00 to $169.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Johnson & Johnson presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $170.06.

Johnson & Johnson Company 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.