Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Price Target Lowered to $175.00 at Royal Bank of Canada

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) had its target price cut by research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $181.00 to $175.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price indicates a potential upside of 21.23% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $169.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Raymond James increased their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $172.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $215.00 price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Monday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Johnson & Johnson presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $176.36.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

Johnson & Johnson stock traded down $0.10 on Wednesday, reaching $144.35. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,956,818 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,180,221. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.16. Johnson & Johnson has a twelve month low of $143.39 and a twelve month high of $175.97. The company has a market cap of $347.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.44, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.53. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $156.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $155.82.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The company reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.07. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 37.27% and a net margin of 37.79%. The business had revenue of $21.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.68 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Johnson & Johnson

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Johnson & Johnson

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 90,144.4% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 54,386,720 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,607,414,000 after purchasing an additional 54,326,454 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 42,224,521 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,458,962,000 after purchasing an additional 4,521,062 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter worth about $4,609,399,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,019,725 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,764,852,000 after purchasing an additional 3,391,657 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 22.2% during the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 22,104,221 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,464,617,000 after purchasing an additional 4,021,883 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

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.