Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Receives $171.33 Consensus PT from Analysts

Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $171.33.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on JNJ shares. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $175.00 to $163.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $166.00 to $152.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays boosted their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $159.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Leerink Partners lowered their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $182.00 to $169.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd.

Insider Activity at Johnson & Johnson

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

Institutional Trading of Johnson & Johnson

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Johnson & Johnson by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 232,792,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,666,460,000 after buying an additional 1,772,706 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 0.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 134,245,811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,755,874,000 after purchasing an additional 1,154,088 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 57,667,920 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,321,881,000 after purchasing an additional 1,561,036 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted 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 worth $4,456,201,000 after purchasing an additional 3,363,235 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter worth about $4,390,037,000. 69.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Up 2.9 %

Shares of JNJ stock opened at $159.90 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $159.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $156.01. Johnson & Johnson has a 1 year low of $140.68 and a 1 year high of $169.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $385.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.47.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $22.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.44 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 34.24% and a net margin of 18.20%. Johnson & Johnson’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.29 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.