Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by Leerink Partnrs

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) was downgraded by research analysts at Leerink Partnrs from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $170.00 to $155.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. StockNews.com upgraded Johnson & Johnson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 25th. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Benchmark upgraded Johnson & Johnson to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $170.88.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance

JNJ opened at $146.39 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $352.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $156.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $154.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Johnson & Johnson has a 12-month low of $140.68 and a 12-month high of $169.99.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $21.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.65 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 34.24% and a net margin of 18.20%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Johnson & Johnson news, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 403 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,357,552.70. The trade was a 2.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Robert J. Decker sold 6,999 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 21,001 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,483,645.88. This represents a 25.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Johnson & Johnson

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in JNJ. IFS Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 138.9% during the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 172 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Institutional investors own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

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.