Johnson & Johnson’s (JNJ) “Outperform” Rating Reaffirmed at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $181.00 price target on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $162.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com raised Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 25th. Argus raised Johnson & Johnson to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $190.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $159.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $170.67.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Up 1.9 %

JNJ opened at $157.93 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $380.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.52. Johnson & Johnson has a 12 month low of $140.68 and a 12 month high of $168.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The business has a 50-day moving average of $148.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $155.86.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.05. The business 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 34.24% and a net margin of 18.20%. The company’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.29 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors 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 yield of 3.14%. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is currently 74.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark A. Weinberger acquired 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were bought at an average price of $147.22 per share, with a total value of $147,220.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 1,000 shares in the company, valued at $147,220. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 232,792,559 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,666,460,000 after acquiring an additional 1,772,706 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 134,245,811 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,755,874,000 after acquiring an additional 1,154,088 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position 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 worth $8,321,881,000 after acquiring an additional 1,561,036 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 12.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 30,813,175 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,456,201,000 after acquiring an additional 3,363,235 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Johnson & Johnson during the 4th quarter worth $4,390,037,000. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.