Vicus Capital Acquires 104 Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Vicus Capital boosted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 5,464 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. Vicus Capital’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $790,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 14.2% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 425,261 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,985,000 after purchasing an additional 52,997 shares in the last quarter. Alpha Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the third quarter valued at about $209,000. Wealth Group Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the third quarter valued at about $213,000. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 5.3% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,215,108 shares of the company’s stock valued at $358,980,000 after purchasing an additional 111,570 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI lifted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.8% in the third quarter. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI now owns 97,483 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,798,000 after purchasing an additional 1,768 shares in the last quarter. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on JNJ. Raymond James cut their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Leerink Partners lowered their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $182.00 to $169.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays lifted their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $159.00 to $166.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $185.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $181.00 target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $170.67.

Insider Transactions at Johnson & Johnson

In related news, Director Mark A. Weinberger purchased 1,000 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $147.22 per share, with a total value of $147,220.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $147,220. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

NYSE:JNJ opened at $156.20 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $376.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Johnson & Johnson has a 12-month low of $140.68 and a 12-month high of $168.85. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $147.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $155.95.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $22.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.44 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 34.35% and a net margin of 18.20%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.29 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of $1.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.18%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.59%.

About Johnson & Johnson

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.