Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Shares Up 1.1% – What’s Next?

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)’s stock price shot up 1.1% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $156.38 and last traded at $156.21. 888,886 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 7,042,332 shares. The stock had previously closed at $154.52.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on JNJ. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $169.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $178.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $156.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 14th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $175.94.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Up 0.6 %

The firm has a market cap of $374.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $159.33 and a 200-day moving average of $156.38.

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

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a $1.24 dividend. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.78%.

Institutional Trading of Johnson & Johnson

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vinva Investment Management Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 6.8% during the third quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 111,448 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,988,000 after buying an additional 7,110 shares in the last quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 5.3% during the third quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 185,093 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,996,000 after buying an additional 9,309 shares in the last quarter. Meridian Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the second quarter valued at $1,626,000. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 19.6% during the third quarter. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 22,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,667,000 after buying an additional 3,710 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 0.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,639,368 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,858,543,000 after buying an additional 102,502 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.