Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Stock Price Up 2% – Here’s What Happened

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) was up 2% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $237.71 and last traded at $236.8810. Approximately 8,192,473 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 2% from the average daily volume of 8,338,312 shares. The stock had previously closed at $232.16.

Key Stories Impacting Johnson & Johnson

Here are the key news stories impacting Johnson & Johnson this week:

• Positive Sentiment: J&J announced a $1 billion all-cash acquisition of Firefly Bio, adding its Firelink degrader antibody conjugate platform and strengthening the company’s efforts in KRAS-driven cancer treatments. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: New reports say the Firefly deal could help J&J crack harder-to-treat cancer targets, while commentary from analysts highlighted improving oncology and immunology pipeline momentum that could shift the bull case further in J&J’s favor. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: J&J also secured extended NICE support for Darzalex-based therapy in first-line multiple myeloma, which supports the company’s oncology franchise and may improve long-term revenue visibility. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles noted that J&J has outperformed recently and continues to be viewed as a defensive healthcare name, but these pieces were largely commentary rather than new company-specific catalysts. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: One article flagged ongoing patent and legal headwinds, which remain a risk for J&J even as the company’s diversified business and pipeline help offset them. Article Title

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on JNJ shares. Raymond James Financial upped their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $237.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Daiwa Securities Group upped their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $237.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Argus upped their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $240.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley set a $283.00 price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $244.00 to $266.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Johnson & Johnson has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $253.04.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $570.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.26. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $231.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $226.38.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 14th. The company reported $2.70 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $24.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.60 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 21.83% and a return on equity of 32.60%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.77 EPS. Johnson & Johnson has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.450-11.650 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 11.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 26th will be paid a $1.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 26th. This represents a $5.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. This is an increase from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.30. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is currently 61.97%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Johnson & Johnson

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 240,349,660 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,740,362,000 after purchasing an additional 3,731,074 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 133,869,843 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,704,364,000 after purchasing an additional 1,663,782 shares in the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 22,225.6% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 69,419,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,436,633,000 after purchasing an additional 69,108,368 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 57,953,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,967,947,000 after purchasing an additional 1,738,292 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,924,523,000. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson is a multinational healthcare company headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey, that develops, manufactures and markets a broad range of products across pharmaceuticals, medical devices and previously consumer health. Founded in 1886 by the Johnson family, the company has grown into a global healthcare organization with operations and sales in many countries around the world.

The company’s pharmaceuticals business, organized largely under its Janssen research and development organization, focuses on prescription medicines across therapeutic areas such as immunology, infectious disease, oncology and neuroscience.