Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Wall Street Zen

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on JNJ. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $166.00 to $165.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Raymond James Financial dropped their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $164.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Eleven 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Johnson & Johnson presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $170.88.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Down 0.6%

JNJ opened at $149.81 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $154.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $153.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $360.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.66, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.42. Johnson & Johnson has a fifty-two week low of $140.68 and a fifty-two week high of $169.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.26.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Johnson & Johnson

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new position in Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Johnson & Johnson in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.