Mendel Capital Management LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Mendel Capital Management LLC reduced its position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 12.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 7,796 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,063 shares during the quarter. Mendel Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $1,127,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in JNJ. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 232,792,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,666,460,000 after purchasing an additional 1,772,706 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 57,667,920 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,321,881,000 after purchasing an additional 1,561,036 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,390,037,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 431,205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Johnson & Johnson by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 19,126,079 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,766,014,000 after purchasing an additional 1,171,975 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

JNJ has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $164.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Leerink Partners decreased their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $182.00 to $169.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James lowered their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $166.00 to $165.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Nine equities research 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.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $171.82.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

Shares of JNJ stock opened at $154.54 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.11. The company has a market capitalization of $371.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.49. Johnson & Johnson has a one year low of $140.68 and a one year high of $169.99. The company’s 50-day moving average is $159.48 and its 200 day moving average is $154.84.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.36%. This is a boost from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 57.84%.

Insider Transactions at Johnson & Johnson

In other Johnson & Johnson news, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of the 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,357,552.70. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.88, for a total transaction of $1,160,994.12. Following the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Johnson & Johnson 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.