Bragg Financial Advisors Inc Sells 2,283 Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Bragg Financial Advisors Inc lowered its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Free Report) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 88,022 shares of the company's stock after selling 2,283 shares during the quarter. Bragg Financial Advisors Inc's holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $12,730,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in JNJ. IFS Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 138.9% in the fourth 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 acquired a new stake in Johnson & Johnson during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new position in Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. 69.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on JNJ shares. Raymond James decreased their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $171.00 to $159.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. StockNews.com raised Johnson & Johnson from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, January 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $155.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, 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 note on Thursday, January 23rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Johnson & Johnson currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $171.50.

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Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total transaction of $62,928.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,098 shares in the company, valued at $2,357,552.70. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 directly 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 currently owned by company insiders.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Down 0.5 %

Johnson & Johnson stock traded down $0.71 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $153.66. 10,723,823 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,973,461. Johnson & Johnson has a 52 week low of $140.68 and a 52 week high of $169.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $370.29 billion, a PE ratio of 23.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $159.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $155.10.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analyst estimates of $21.65 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 18.20% and a return on equity of 34.24%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.38%. This is a positive change from Johnson & Johnson's previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. Johnson & Johnson's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.59%.

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.