Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Shares Up 0.5%

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)’s share price was up 0.5% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $159.14 and last traded at $158.73. Approximately 938,548 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 7,073,249 shares. The stock had previously closed at $157.96.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on JNJ shares. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $172.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Johnson & Johnson from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $170.00 to $163.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 13th. StockNews.com raised Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. UBS Group raised Johnson & Johnson from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $167.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Friday, December 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $169.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Johnson & Johnson presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $177.31.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $381.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.16. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $158.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $156.69.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The company reported $2.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.28 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $21.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.02 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 37.27% and a net margin of 37.79%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.35 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.65 EPS for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were given a dividend of $1.19 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. This represents a $4.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.01%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.47%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Jennifer L. Taubert sold 59,397 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.27, for a total transaction of $9,281,969.19. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 141,416 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,099,078.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Jennifer L. Taubert sold 59,397 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.27, for a total transaction of $9,281,969.19. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 141,416 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,099,078.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder & Johnson Johnson sold 3,725 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.81, for a total value of $96,142.25. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 4,099,575 shares in the company, valued at approximately $105,810,030.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Johnson & Johnson

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Johnson & Johnson in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Tower View Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 183.3% in the 3rd quarter. Tower View Wealth Management LLC now owns 255 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the period. Keener Financial Planning LLC purchased a new position in Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp increased its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 61.4% in the 4th quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 255 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson, together with its subsidiaries, researches, develops, manufactures, and sells various products in the healthcare field worldwide. The company's Innovative Medicine segment offers products for various therapeutic areas, such as immunology, including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and psoriasis; infectious diseases comprising HIV/AIDS; neuroscience, consisting of mood disorders, neurodegenerative disorders, and schizophrenia; oncology, such as prostate cancer, hematologic malignancies, lung cancer, and bladder cancer; cardiovascular and metabolism, including thrombosis, diabetes, and macular degeneration; and pulmonary hypertension comprising pulmonary arterial hypertension through retailers, wholesalers, distributors, hospitals, and healthcare professionals for prescription use.