Johnson & Johnson’s (JNJ) Outperform Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada restated their outperform rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) in a research note published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a $181.00 price target on the stock.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on JNJ. StockNews.com upgraded Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 25th. Leerink Partners lowered their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $182.00 to $169.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $185.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Argus upgraded Johnson & Johnson to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Johnson & Johnson currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $171.33.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Down 4.3 %

NYSE:JNJ opened at $153.03 on Wednesday. Johnson & Johnson has a 1 year low of $140.68 and a 1 year high of $169.99. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $159.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $155.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The company has a market cap of $368.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.47.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.05. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 34.24% and a net margin of 18.20%. The business had revenue of $22.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.29 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Johnson & Johnson

In other Johnson & Johnson news, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total value of $62,928.45. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,357,552.70. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.88, for a total value of $1,160,994.12. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 21,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,483,645.88. This represents a 25.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Johnson & Johnson

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in JNJ. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the 4th quarter worth $4,390,037,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter worth $1,339,878,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 134.5% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 7,948,508 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,149,536,000 after purchasing an additional 4,559,147 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 12.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 30,813,175 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,456,201,000 after purchasing an additional 3,363,235 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter worth about $349,206,000. Institutional investors 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.