Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Earns Outperform Rating from Royal Bank Of Canada

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by stock analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $255.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada’s price target points to a potential upside of 5.01% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on JNJ. Argus lifted their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $210.00 to $240.00 in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Barclays lifted their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $217.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $250.00 to $274.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $253.00 price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.91.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

Shares of NYSE JNJ traded up $2.38 during trading on Monday, reaching $242.83. The company had a trading volume of 2,511,216 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,843,199. Johnson & Johnson has a 52 week low of $141.50 and a 52 week high of $251.71. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $237.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $210.94. The stock has a market cap of $584.88 billion, a PE ratio of 21.99, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 1.03.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, January 31st. The company reported $2.46 EPS for the quarter. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 28.46% and a return on equity of 33.04%. The business had revenue of $24.28 billion for the quarter. Analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Johnson & Johnson news, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 1,322 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.66, for a total value of $324,762.52. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 25,447 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,251,310.02. This trade represents a 4.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Vanessa Broadhurst sold 6,197 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.39, for a total transaction of $1,508,287.83. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 23,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,598,700.17. This represents a 21.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 30,142 shares of company stock worth $7,360,528 over the last quarter. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Johnson & Johnson

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its position in Johnson & Johnson by 22,225.6% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 69,419,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,436,633,000 after purchasing an additional 69,108,368 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the 4th quarter worth about $6,924,523,000. Capital World Investors bought a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,005,942,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 240,349,660 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,740,362,000 after acquiring an additional 3,731,074 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 41.7% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 12,423,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,571,124,000 after acquiring an additional 3,655,754 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

About Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson is a multinational healthcare company headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey, that develops, manufactures and markets a broad range of products across pharmaceuticals, medical devices and previously consumer health. Founded in 1886 by the Johnson family, the company has grown into a global healthcare organization with operations and sales in many countries around the world.

The company’s pharmaceuticals business, organized largely under its Janssen research and development organization, focuses on prescription medicines across therapeutic areas such as immunology, infectious disease, oncology and neuroscience.