Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Strong-Buy” Rating

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) was upgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on JNJ. Raymond James Financial cut their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America cut their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $171.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $164.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Leerink Partners cut Johnson & Johnson from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $169.00 to $153.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $170.88.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

Johnson & Johnson stock opened at $149.81 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $154.07 and a 200-day moving average of $153.63. Johnson & Johnson has a 1 year low of $140.68 and a 1 year high of $169.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The company has a market capitalization of $360.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.42.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.18. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 33.46% and a net margin of 24.42%. The company had revenue of $21.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.65 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Johnson & Johnson

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 233,962,679 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,800,371,000 after acquiring an additional 1,170,120 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 57,667,920 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,321,881,000 after acquiring an additional 1,561,036 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 0.4% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 30,943,820 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,131,723,000 after acquiring an additional 130,645 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter worth $4,390,037,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,356,572 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,522,447,000 after acquiring an additional 431,205 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.