Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Sells 8,877,281 Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD reduced its stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ - Free Report) by 35.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,283,171 shares of the company's stock after selling 8,877,281 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned approximately 0.68% of Johnson & Johnson worth $2,354,874,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new stake in Johnson & Johnson during the 4th quarter worth approximately $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 and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Johnson & Johnson

In other Johnson & Johnson news, 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 21,001 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,483,645.88. The trade was a 25.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,357,552.70. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on JNJ. Argus raised shares of Johnson & Johnson to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Leerink Partners reduced their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $182.00 to $169.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com raised Johnson & Johnson from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, January 25th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $171.00 to $159.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Johnson & Johnson has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $171.82.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of JNJ traded down $0.39 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $154.54. The stock had a trading volume of 8,642,889 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,920,389. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $159.49 and a 200 day moving average of $154.92. 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 company has a market cap of $372.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.49. Johnson & Johnson has a 52 week low of $140.68 and a 52 week high of $169.99.

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

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

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

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.