Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Given “Outperform” Rating at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reissued their outperform rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $181.00 price target on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $175.00 to $163.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Leerink Partners reduced their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $182.00 to $169.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 25th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $166.00 to $152.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Raymond James reduced their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Nine 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $171.33.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Up 1.4 %

JNJ stock opened at $155.41 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $159.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $155.98. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $374.51 billion, a PE ratio of 23.37, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.47. Johnson & Johnson has a 1-year low of $140.68 and a 1-year high of $169.99.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $22.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.44 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 18.20% and a return on equity of 34.24%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.29 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Johnson & Johnson

In other news, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 21,001 shares in the company, valued at $3,483,645.88. This trade represents a 25.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Johnson & Johnson

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of JNJ. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Johnson & Johnson during the 4th quarter valued at $4,390,037,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,339,878,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 134.5% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 7,948,508 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,149,536,000 after acquiring an additional 4,559,147 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 30,813,175 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,456,201,000 after acquiring an additional 3,363,235 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter worth $349,206,000. 69.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.