Wolfe Research Initiates Coverage on Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) in a research report released on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued an outperform rating and a $190.00 price objective on the stock.

JNJ has been the topic of a number of other reports. TD Cowen cut their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $195.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 18th. StockNews.com raised shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $169.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Daiwa America lowered Johnson & Johnson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $161.00 to $171.00 in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $175.94.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of JNJ stock traded up $2.13 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $154.00. 11,328,515 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,017,128. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $161.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $156.02. The company has a market cap of $370.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.53. Johnson & Johnson has a 1-year low of $143.13 and a 1-year high of $168.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.21. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 35.45% and a net margin of 19.14%. The firm had revenue of $22.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.17 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.66 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Johnson & Johnson will post 9.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be given a $1.24 dividend. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.78%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Robert J. Decker sold 5,635 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.06, for a total transaction of $930,113.10. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,973 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,131,683.38. This represents a 22.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Johnson & Johnson

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 56,106,884 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,064,149,000 after acquiring an additional 1,004,763 shares in the last quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. now owns 78,814 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,772,000 after purchasing an additional 7,033 shares during the period. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 26,607 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,312,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Brophy Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the third quarter valued at approximately $944,000. Finally, High Falls Advisors Inc raised its position in Johnson & Johnson by 15.7% during the third quarter. High Falls Advisors Inc now owns 2,186 shares of the company’s stock worth $354,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the period. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.