Provident Living Financial Services Inc. Acquires New Position in Johnson & Johnson $JNJ

Provident Living Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 4,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,001,000. Johnson & Johnson accounts for approximately 1.0% of Provident Living Financial Services Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in JNJ. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 632.0% in the third quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 89,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,536,000 after acquiring an additional 77,000 shares during the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 2.2% in the third quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 130,934 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,278,000 after acquiring an additional 2,769 shares during the last quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 0.4% in the third quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,383,195 shares of the company’s stock valued at $251,216,000 after acquiring an additional 5,994 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 3.2% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,926,569 shares of the company’s stock valued at $913,484,000 after acquiring an additional 151,707 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 4.4% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,135,378 shares of the company’s stock valued at $952,202,000 after acquiring an additional 214,830 shares during the last quarter. 69.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Vanessa Broadhurst sold 6,197 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.39, for a total transaction of $1,508,287.83. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 23,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,598,700.17. The trade was a 21.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 22,623 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $244.33, for a total transaction of $5,527,477.59. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 26,769 shares in the company, valued at $6,540,469.77. This trade represents a 45.80% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 30,142 shares of company stock worth $7,360,528 in the last ninety days. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Johnson & Johnson

Here are the key news stories impacting Johnson & Johnson this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley raised its price target to $267 and kept an “Overweight” rating, signaling roughly double-digit upside versus current levels and supporting buy-side interest. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Other broker notes (Guggenheim, Citi, and various upgrades) have recently pushed bullish research and helped intraday rallies. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Commercial/MedTech catalyst — J&J launched the VARIPULSE Pro pulsed field ablation system in Europe after CE mark approval, adding potential device revenue upside and real‑world evidence generation. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Dividend profile remains a tailwind for income investors — long streak of annual increases (>60 years) supports total‑return buyers. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Fair‑value/target updates are moving modestly (consensus fair value around ~$241.7) — analysts are lifting some targets while flagging execution as the next focus, keeping valuation views mixed. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Market is positioning for Q1 earnings — multiple previews and Wall Street estimate rundowns are circulating; that typically increases volatility into the print. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Some analysts and commentators are cautioning that this is “time to sell the rally” into Q1, arguing upside expectations may be priced in and that near‑term catalysts could disappoint. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Ongoing risks — litigation exposure, biosimilar competition and pricing pressure are repeatedly flagged as potential earnings/headwind items that could cap upside. Read More.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $274.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $262.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.17.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

Shares of Johnson & Johnson stock opened at $238.34 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $241.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $215.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Johnson & Johnson has a 1-year low of $146.12 and a 1-year high of $251.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $574.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.57, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.34.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, January 31st. The company reported $2.46 earnings per share for the quarter. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 28.46% and a return on equity of 33.04%. The business had revenue of $24.28 billion during the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Company Profile

Johnson & Johnson is a multinational healthcare company headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey, that develops, manufactures and markets a broad range of products across pharmaceuticals, medical devices and previously consumer health. Founded in 1886 by the Johnson family, the company has grown into a global healthcare organization with operations and sales in many countries around the world.

The company’s pharmaceuticals business, organized largely under its Janssen research and development organization, focuses on prescription medicines across therapeutic areas such as immunology, infectious disease, oncology and neuroscience.