Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Trading Up 1.3% Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) were up 1.3% on Monday after Bank of America raised their price target on the stock from $204.00 to $220.00. Bank of America currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Johnson & Johnson traded as high as $215.19 and last traded at $214.4110. Approximately 8,424,441 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 5% from the average daily volume of 8,893,941 shares. The stock had previously closed at $211.58.

JNJ has been the subject of a number of other reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $190.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $209.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $176.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $206.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.35.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Johnson & Johnson

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Johnson & Johnson in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Clayton Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the third quarter worth about $28,000. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 55.0% during the second quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 203 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GFG Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Johnson & Johnson during the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $196.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $177.42. The company has a market cap of $516.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.36.

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

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 25th were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 25th. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is currently 50.19%.

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.