Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Raised to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $181.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $167.00 price target (up from $164.00) on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $176.29.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Down 0.2%

JNJ stock opened at $178.10 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $170.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $161.30. The company has a market capitalization of $428.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Johnson & Johnson has a 12 month low of $140.68 and a 12 month high of $181.16.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The company reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.09. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 25.00% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The business had revenue of $23.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.82 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. Johnson & Johnson has set its FY 2025 guidance at 10.800-10.900 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Johnson & Johnson

In other news, EVP Jennifer L. Taubert sold 56,471 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.81, for a total value of $10,041,108.51. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 178,013 shares in the company, valued at $31,652,491.53. This represents a 24.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Johnson & Johnson

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of JNJ. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Johnson & Johnson by 13.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 51,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,502,000 after purchasing an additional 6,332 shares during the last quarter. Hudson Value Partners LLC increased its position in Johnson & Johnson by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Hudson Value Partners LLC now owns 41,403 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,648,000 after purchasing an additional 1,022 shares during the last quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. increased its position in Johnson & Johnson by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 10,725 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,551,000 after purchasing an additional 630 shares during the last quarter. Scissortail Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Johnson & Johnson by 5,251.2% during the fourth quarter. Scissortail Wealth Management LLC now owns 21,726 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,142,000 after purchasing an additional 21,320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC increased its position in Johnson & Johnson by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC now owns 6,152 shares of the company’s stock worth $890,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Johnson & Johnson

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.