StockNews.com Lowers Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) to Buy

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report released on Thursday morning.

JNJ has been the topic of a number of other reports. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $167.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an outperform rating and set a $175.00 price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $160.00 to $155.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 19th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $195.00 to $185.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from an outperform rating to a neutral rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $160.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $173.21.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE JNJ traded up $0.40 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $160.62. The company had a trading volume of 4,395,866 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,354,407. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $150.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $153.16. The stock has a market cap of $386.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.99, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.52. Johnson & Johnson has a 52-week low of $143.13 and a 52-week high of $175.97.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The company reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.71 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $22.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.33 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 46.34% and a return on equity of 36.60%. The company’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.80 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th will be paid a $1.24 dividend. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 27th. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.92%.

Institutional Trading of Johnson & Johnson

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in JNJ. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Johnson & Johnson by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,438 shares of the company’s stock worth $852,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 297,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,685,000 after buying an additional 15,490 shares during the last quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 4.5% in the first quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,625 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,523,000 after buying an additional 414 shares during the last quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. raised its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 19,587 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,070,000 after buying an additional 2,201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System raised its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 10,620,264 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,664,620,000 after buying an additional 498,647 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.