Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Receives $173.00 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ – Get Rating) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $173.00.

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. TheStreet downgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Friday, May 19th. Credit Suisse Group increased their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $168.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Friday, May 5th. Raymond James lowered their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $185.00 to $181.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 19th. Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Tuesday, February 28th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $161.00 price target for the company. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $215.00 target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Wednesday, February 1st.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider James D. Swanson sold 1,062 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.66, for a total value of $164,248.92. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,215 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,425,191.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Johnson & Johnson

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Johnson & Johnson by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 245,340,875 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,078,885,000 after buying an additional 2,815,655 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in Johnson & Johnson by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 201,491,567 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,231,193,000 after buying an additional 2,688,798 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Johnson & Johnson by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 141,886,311 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,178,548,000 after buying an additional 803,013 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Johnson & Johnson by 90,144.4% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 54,386,720 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,607,414,000 after buying an additional 54,326,454 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Johnson & Johnson by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,707,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,532,525,000 after buying an additional 748,917 shares during the last quarter. 67.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Down 1.4 %

JNJ opened at $154.41 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $159.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $165.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.07. Johnson & Johnson has a twelve month low of $150.11 and a twelve month high of $183.35. The firm has a market cap of $401.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.30, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.53.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 18th. The company reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.51 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $24.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.61 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 36.13%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.67 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 23rd will be paid a $1.19 dividend. This is a positive change from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.13. This represents a $4.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.08%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 22nd. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is currently 99.58%.

About Johnson & Johnson

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Johnson & Johnson is a holding company, which engages in the research and development, manufacture and sale of products in the health care field. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Health, Pharmaceutical, and MedTech. The Consumer Health segment includes products focused on personal healthcare used in the Skin Health/Beauty, Over-the-Counter medicines, Baby Care, Oral Care, Women’s Health and Wound Care markets.