Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-six research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, thirteen have assigned a buy recommendation and four have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $201.05.

JNJ has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Loop Capital set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley set a $190.00 target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Argus set a $210.00 price target on Johnson & Johnson in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $212.00 price target on Johnson & Johnson and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd.

Insider Transactions at Johnson & Johnson

In other Johnson & Johnson news, EVP Jennifer L. Taubert sold 56,471 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.81, for a total value of $10,041,108.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 178,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,652,491.53. This represents a 24.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Johnson & Johnson

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Johnson & Johnson in the second quarter worth $4,877,174,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the 1st quarter worth about $1,369,188,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 15,040.6% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,420,699 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,133,512,000 after acquiring an additional 7,371,687 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 545.6% during the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 3,865,050 shares of the company’s stock worth $716,657,000 after acquiring an additional 3,266,354 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 237,047,859 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,209,060,000 after purchasing an additional 3,085,180 shares in the last quarter. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of JNJ stock opened at $196.00 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $185.81 and a 200 day moving average of $169.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Johnson & Johnson has a 1-year low of $140.68 and a 1-year high of $197.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $472.22 billion, a PE ratio of 18.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.38.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 30th. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 32.73% and a net margin of 27.26%.The firm had revenue of $24.02 billion during the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 25th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 25th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.19%.

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.