Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Reaches New 1-Year High – What’s Next?

Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $209.79 and last traded at $210.6880, with a volume of 1653358 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $206.54.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company set a $212.00 target price on Johnson & Johnson and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Johnson Rice set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $176.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Daiwa America upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.45.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Up 1.8%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $506.41 billion, a PE ratio of 20.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.36. The business’s 50-day moving average is $195.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $176.44.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 30th. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $24.02 billion for the quarter. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 27.26% and a return on equity of 32.73%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 25th were issued a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 25th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.19%.

Institutional Trading of Johnson & Johnson

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 237,047,859 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,209,060,000 after acquiring an additional 3,085,180 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 60,609,476 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,227,988,000 after purchasing an additional 1,225,676 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Johnson & Johnson in the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,877,174,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 30,943,820 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,131,723,000 after purchasing an additional 130,645 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 3.8% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,832,777 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,789,914,000 after buying an additional 956,239 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.