ProShare Advisors LLC Has $241.70 Million Stock Position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,671,241 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 102,597 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $241,695,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. IFS Advisors LLC increased its position in Johnson & Johnson by 138.9% during the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 172 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new position in Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new position in Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of JNJ stock opened at $146.39 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $352.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $156.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $154.09. Johnson & Johnson has a 1 year low of $140.68 and a 1 year high of $169.99.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last issued 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 business had revenue of $21.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.65 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 34.24% and a net margin of 18.20%. On average, research analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 27th. This is a boost from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.55%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.84%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Johnson & Johnson news, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total transaction 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 $2,357,552.70. This represents a 2.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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 value of $1,160,994.12. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 21,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

JNJ has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Leerink Partners downgraded Johnson & Johnson from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $169.00 to $153.00 in a research report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Johnson & Johnson from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $157.00 to $172.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $171.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $170.88.

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.