Leerink Partners Lowers Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Price Target to $169.00

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) had its target price cut by Leerink Partners from $182.00 to $169.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $215.00 target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Raymond James decreased their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $185.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $160.00 to $159.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $156.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $170.06.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE JNJ opened at $146.76 on Thursday. Johnson & Johnson has a 12 month low of $140.68 and a 12 month high of $168.85. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $147.85 and a 200-day moving average of $155.99. 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 company has a market capitalization of $353.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.51.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $2.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $22.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22,438,500 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 18.20% and a return on equity of 34.35%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.29 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.56 EPS for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a $1.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.38%. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is currently 74.59%.

Insider Activity at Johnson & Johnson

In related news, Director Mark A. Weinberger purchased 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $147.22 per share, for a total transaction of $147,220.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $147,220. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Johnson & Johnson

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of JNJ. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 0.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 134,245,811 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,755,874,000 after purchasing an additional 1,154,088 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in 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 during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 7.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,316,920 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,968,440,000 after acquiring an additional 1,265,748 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 0.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,639,368 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,858,543,000 after purchasing an additional 102,502 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Johnson & Johnson by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 16,840,069 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,721,355,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729,281 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Johnson & Johnson Company Profile

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.