Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Stock Price Up 1.1% – What’s Next?

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)’s share price was up 1.1% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $161.69 and last traded at $161.39. Approximately 3,607,042 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 59% from the average daily volume of 8,790,578 shares. The stock had previously closed at $159.68.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on JNJ. 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. Raymond James cut 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. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $166.00 to $152.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $155.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $159.00 to $166.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Nine research 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 stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $170.67.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

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 $390.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.52. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $148.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $155.88.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $22.52 billion for 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%. Johnson & Johnson’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.29 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $1.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.06%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.59%.

Insider Transactions at Johnson & Johnson

In other news, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,098 shares in the company, valued at $2,357,552.70. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mark A. Weinberger bought 1,000 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $147.22 per share, for a total transaction of $147,220.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 1,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $147,220. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Johnson & Johnson

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 0.8% during the 4th 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. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 134,245,811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,755,874,000 after purchasing an additional 1,154,088 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in 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. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 12.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 30,813,175 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,456,201,000 after purchasing an additional 3,363,235 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Johnson & Johnson during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,390,037,000. 69.55% of the stock is currently 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.