Prospector Partners LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Prospector Partners LLC lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 15.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 77,232 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,585 shares during the period. Prospector Partners LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $11,169,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in JNJ. IFS Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 138.9% in the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 172 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Johnson & Johnson during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new position in Johnson & Johnson during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. 69.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on JNJ. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $175.00 to $163.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $181.00 price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup decreased their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $185.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Leerink Partners cut their price target 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, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 25th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $171.33.

Insider Transactions at Johnson & Johnson

In other Johnson & Johnson news, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,357,552.70. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,483,645.88. This trade represents a 25.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Down 4.3 %

Shares of NYSE JNJ opened at $153.03 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $368.77 billion, a PE ratio of 23.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a 50-day moving average of $159.75 and a 200 day moving average of $155.84. Johnson & Johnson has a 12-month low of $140.68 and a 12-month high of $169.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $22.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.44 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 18.20% and a return on equity of 34.24%. Johnson & Johnson’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.29 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.