California State Teachers Retirement System Sells 79,227 Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

California State Teachers Retirement System decreased its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Free Report) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,851,196 shares of the company's stock after selling 79,227 shares during the period. Johnson & Johnson accounts for about 0.7% of California State Teachers Retirement System's portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. California State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.16% of Johnson & Johnson worth $556,960,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 0.8% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 57,667,920 shares of the company's stock worth $8,321,881,000 after purchasing an additional 1,561,036 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 30,813,175 shares of the company's stock worth $4,456,201,000 after purchasing an additional 3,363,235 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter worth about $4,390,037,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,356,572 shares of the company's stock worth $3,522,447,000 after purchasing an additional 431,205 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.55% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Johnson & Johnson

In other news, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was 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 directly 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of Johnson & Johnson 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 directly 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. Insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Down 0.3 %

JNJ opened at $154.54 on Monday. Johnson & Johnson has a fifty-two week low of $140.68 and a fifty-two week high of $169.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $371.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.24, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.49. The company's 50 day moving average price is $159.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $154.80.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.18. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 18.20% and a return on equity of 34.24%. The firm had revenue of $21.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.65 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be issued a $1.30 dividend. This is a positive change from Johnson & Johnson's previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.36%. Johnson & Johnson's payout ratio is presently 57.84%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Argus upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, January 25th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $166.00 to $152.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $166.00 to $165.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus 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.

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