Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Trading Down 0.6%

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)’s share price fell 0.6% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $149.40 and last traded at $150.25. 1,883,704 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 7,399,469 shares. The stock had previously closed at $151.18.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on JNJ. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $172.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. HSBC raised shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $169.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $180.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $168.00 to $167.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $175.86.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

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 stock has a market cap of $360.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.55. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $154.65 and its 200 day moving average is $155.11.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $0.07. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 36.43%. 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 business posted $2.68 EPS. Johnson & Johnson’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.65 EPS for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 21st will be paid a dividend of $1.24 per share. This is a positive change from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.19. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 20th. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.32%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Johnson & Johnson

In other Johnson & Johnson news, EVP Jennifer L. Taubert sold 59,397 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $22,099,078.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder & Johnson Johnson sold 3,725 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.81, for a total value of $96,142.25. Following the sale, the insider now owns 4,099,575 shares in the company, valued at $105,810,030.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jennifer L. Taubert sold 59,397 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 141,416 shares in the company, 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 company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Johnson & Johnson

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in JNJ. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,438 shares of the company’s stock worth $852,000 after buying an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 297,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,685,000 after buying an additional 15,490 shares in the last quarter. DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co boosted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 0.6% during the third quarter. DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co now owns 75,495 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,758,000 after buying an additional 414 shares in the last quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC boosted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 82.8% during the fourth quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC now owns 9,838 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,542,000 after buying an additional 4,457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Drive Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 4.5% during the first quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,523,000 after buying an additional 414 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Johnson & Johnson Company Profile

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.