Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Reduces Stock Position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P reduced its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 6.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 81,593 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,018 shares during the quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $11,800,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,339,878,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 228.1% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,389,361 shares of the company’s stock valued at $549,223,000 after acquiring an additional 2,356,359 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 232,792,559 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,666,460,000 after purchasing an additional 1,772,706 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 11.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 16,840,069 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,721,355,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729,281 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi increased its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 11,930,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,698,984,000 after purchasing an additional 1,660,458 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

JNJ opened at $163.63 on Friday. Johnson & Johnson has a 1-year low of $140.68 and a 1-year high of $169.99. The company has a market capitalization of $394.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.47. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $158.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $156.13. 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 (NYSE:JNJ) last released its earnings results 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. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 34.24% and a net margin of 18.20%. The firm had revenue of $22.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.29 earnings per share. Johnson & Johnson’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $1.24 per share. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is 74.59%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on JNJ. Raymond James decreased their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on 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. StockNews.com upgraded Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $175.00 to $163.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $171.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Johnson & Johnson

In other Johnson & Johnson news, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total transaction of $62,928.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,357,552.70. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 21,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,483,645.88. The trade was 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 corporate insiders.

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.