Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Receives “Outperform” Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $175.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target points to a potential upside of 6.72% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on JNJ. TD Securities cut their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $195.00 to $185.00 in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $161.00 to $171.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $195.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $160.00 to $155.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 14th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $173.21.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

Shares of Johnson & Johnson stock traded down $0.84 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $163.98. The company had a trading volume of 1,789,392 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,124,047. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $161.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $154.17. The stock has a market cap of $394.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.21, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. Johnson & Johnson has a 12-month low of $143.13 and a 12-month high of $168.85.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The company reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.71 by $0.11. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 46.34% and a return on equity of 36.60%. The business had revenue of $22.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.80 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Robert J. Decker sold 5,635 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.06, for a total value of $930,113.10. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 18,973 shares in the company, valued at $3,131,683.38. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Johnson & Johnson

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,019,725 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,764,852,000 after buying an additional 3,391,657 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 506.9% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,884,962 shares of the company’s stock worth $567,826,000 after acquiring an additional 3,244,862 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 16.8% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 21,834,359 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,453,978,000 after acquiring an additional 3,139,499 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 59.0% in the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 6,708,943 shares of the company’s stock worth $980,579,000 after purchasing an additional 2,489,925 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the 1st quarter worth approximately $331,178,000. 69.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Johnson & Johnson Company Profile

Johnson & Johnson, together with its subsidiaries, researches, develops, manufactures, and sells various products in the healthcare field worldwide. The company's Innovative Medicine segment offers products for various therapeutic areas, such as immunology, including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and psoriasis; infectious diseases comprising HIV/AIDS; neuroscience, consisting of mood disorders, neurodegenerative disorders, and schizophrenia; oncology, such as prostate cancer, hematologic malignancies, lung cancer, and bladder cancer; cardiovascular and metabolism, including thrombosis, diabetes, and macular degeneration; and pulmonary hypertension comprising pulmonary arterial hypertension through retailers, wholesalers, distributors, hospitals, and healthcare professionals for prescription use.