Brown Advisory Inc. Sells 18,391 Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Brown Advisory Inc. trimmed its holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 987,014 shares of the company’s stock after selling 18,391 shares during the quarter. Brown Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $142,742,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,390,037,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth $1,339,878,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Johnson & Johnson by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 30,813,175 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,456,201,000 after buying an additional 3,363,235 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 232,792,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,666,460,000 after acquiring an additional 1,772,706 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 16,840,069 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,721,355,000 after acquiring an additional 1,729,281 shares during the last quarter. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related 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 transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 21,001 shares in the company, valued at $3,483,645.88. This represents a 25.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Up 1.1 %

JNJ opened at $156.09 on Friday. Johnson & Johnson has a 12 month low of $140.68 and a 12 month high of $169.99. The company has a market cap of $375.56 billion, a PE ratio of 23.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a 50 day moving average of $158.85 and a 200 day moving average of $154.61.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $21.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.65 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 34.24% and a net margin of 18.20%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be issued a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.33%. This is an increase from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 27th. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.84%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on JNJ. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Benchmark upgraded Johnson & Johnson to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. StockNews.com raised Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, January 25th. Leerink Partners cut their price objective 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. Finally, Raymond James decreased their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Johnson & Johnson presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $171.82.

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.