Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Johnson & Johnson Call Options (NYSE:JNJ)

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders bought 45,802 call options on the company. This is an increase of 41% compared to the typical daily volume of 32,506 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

JNJ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $172.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $215.00 target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $181.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $168.00 to $167.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Seven investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $175.86.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

Shares of JNJ opened at $149.56 on Wednesday. Johnson & Johnson has a 1 year low of $143.13 and a 1 year high of $175.97. The company has a market cap of $360.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.16. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $155.83 and a 200-day moving average of $155.51.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The company reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.07. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 36.43%. The company had revenue of $21.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.68 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 21st will be issued a $1.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 20th. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.32%. This is an increase from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.19. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.68%.

Insider Transactions at Johnson & Johnson

In other news, EVP Jennifer L. Taubert sold 59,397 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.27, for a total transaction of $9,281,969.19. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 141,416 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,099,078.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Jennifer L. Taubert sold 59,397 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.27, for a total value of $9,281,969.19. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 141,416 shares in the company, valued at $22,099,078.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder & Johnson Johnson sold 3,725 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.81, for a total transaction of $96,142.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 4,099,575 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $105,810,030.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Johnson & Johnson

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co lifted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 0.6% in the third quarter. DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co now owns 75,495 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,758,000 after purchasing an additional 414 shares during the period. OneAscent Financial Services LLC lifted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 82.8% in the 4th quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC now owns 9,838 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,542,000 after acquiring an additional 4,457 shares during the last quarter. TrueMark Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,458,000. RAM Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. RAM Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,688 shares of the company’s stock valued at $265,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RFG Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 12.6% in the 3rd quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 18,758 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,921,000 after acquiring an additional 2,102 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

About Johnson & Johnson

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.