Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Trading Up 3.3% – Still a Buy?

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)’s share price shot up 3.3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $206.80 and last traded at $206.4970. 11,401,640 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 28% from the average session volume of 8,902,920 shares. The stock had previously closed at $199.96.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on JNJ shares. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $203.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Loop Capital set a $190.00 target price on Johnson & Johnson in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Johnson Rice set a $190.00 price objective on Johnson & Johnson and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $206.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.40.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average price of $194.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $176.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $497.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.93, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.36.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 30th. The company reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 27.26% and a return on equity of 32.73%. The business had revenue of $24.02 billion for the quarter. Equities analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 25th were issued a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 25th. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.19%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Johnson & Johnson

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 237,047,859 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,209,060,000 after purchasing an additional 3,085,180 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 2.1% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 60,609,476 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,227,988,000 after buying an additional 1,225,676 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Johnson & Johnson during the second quarter valued at $4,877,174,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 30,943,820 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,131,723,000 after acquiring an additional 130,645 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,832,777 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,789,914,000 after acquiring an additional 956,239 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

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.