Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Shares Down 0.4% – Should You Sell?

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) shares fell 0.4% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $162.25 and last traded at $162.34. 1,262,772 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 7,022,739 shares. The stock had previously closed at $162.99.

Analyst Ratings Changes

JNJ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Leerink Partners reduced their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $182.00 to $169.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, January 25th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $159.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $155.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $181.00 price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $171.33.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Up 0.2 %

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $156.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $156.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $393.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.05. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 34.24% and a net margin of 18.20%. The business had revenue of $22.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.44 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.29 earnings per share. Johnson & Johnson’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $1.24 dividend. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Johnson & Johnson’s payout ratio is presently 74.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Johnson & Johnson

In other Johnson & Johnson news, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.88, for a total value of $1,160,994.12. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 21,001 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,483,645.88. The trade was a 25.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.15, for a total value of $62,928.45. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,098 shares in the company, valued at $2,357,552.70. The trade was a 2.60 % 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 bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Johnson & Johnson during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,390,037,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,339,878,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 134.5% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 7,948,508 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,149,536,000 after buying an additional 4,559,147 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 12.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 30,813,175 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,456,201,000 after acquiring an additional 3,363,235 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in Johnson & Johnson during the 4th quarter worth $349,206,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.