Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Trading Down 0% – Time to Sell?

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)’s stock price dropped 0% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $155.06 and last traded at $155.62. Approximately 1,143,948 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 7,865,409 shares. The stock had previously closed at $155.66.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on JNJ shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $157.00 to $172.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, January 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Raymond James reduced their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $171.82.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Down 1.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.11. The stock has a market cap of $370.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $157.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $154.29.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $21.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.65 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 18.20% and a return on equity of 34.24%. Research analysts expect that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. This is a boost from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.38%. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is presently 57.84%.

Insider Activity at Johnson & Johnson

In other news, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total transaction of $62,928.45. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,357,552.70. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.88, for a total transaction of $1,160,994.12. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 21,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,483,645.88. This represents a 25.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 0.5% in the 1st 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased 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 purchasing an additional 1,561,036 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 12.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 30,813,175 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,456,201,000 after purchasing an additional 3,363,235 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Johnson & Johnson during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,390,037,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,356,572 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,522,447,000 after buying an additional 431,205 shares during the last quarter. 69.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.