Scotiabank Begins Coverage on Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) in a research note issued on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm set a “sector outperform” rating and a $230.00 price target on the stock. Scotiabank’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 17.90% from the company’s previous close.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Daiwa America upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $190.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. HSBC upped their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Raymond James Financial boosted their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $174.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Johnson & Johnson currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.52.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE JNJ traded up $0.69 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $195.08. 2,980,871 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,787,998. The business has a 50 day moving average of $185.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $169.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $470.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.83, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.38. Johnson & Johnson has a 1 year low of $140.68 and a 1 year high of $196.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Jennifer L. Taubert sold 56,471 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.81, for a total value of $10,041,108.51. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 178,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,652,491.53. This trade represents a 24.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 75,309 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,964,000 after purchasing an additional 9,966 shares during the last quarter. Winthrop Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 3.8% during the third quarter. Winthrop Capital Management LLC now owns 8,533 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,582,000 after buying an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Inc. CA bought a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the 3rd quarter valued at $5,989,000. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 545.6% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 3,865,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $716,657,000 after acquiring an additional 3,266,354 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Johnson & Johnson by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 19,450,064 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,606,431,000 after acquiring an additional 532,790 shares during the last quarter. 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.