Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Hits New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $246.96 and last traded at $246.3880, with a volume of 3967093 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $244.99.

Key Johnson & Johnson News

Here are the key news stories impacting Johnson & Johnson this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Announced a >$1 billion investment to build a next?generation cell?therapy manufacturing facility in Pennsylvania, supporting capacity for JNJ’s biologics/cell therapy pipeline and long?term growth. BusinessWire: J&J $1B Pennsylvania plant
• Positive Sentiment: FDA granted a Breakthrough Therapy Designation for subcutaneous amivantamab (RYBREVANT FASPRO) in advanced head & neck cancer — a regulatory accelerator that can speed development and improve commercial prospects if confirmatory data follow. PR Newswire: BTD for RYBREVANT FASPRO
• Positive Sentiment: FDA cleared a simplified monthly dosing option for RYBREVANT FASPRO in lung cancer, which may improve patient convenience and uptake versus more frequent dosing schedules. PR Newswire: Monthly dosing approval
• Positive Sentiment: Raised the quarterly dividend to $1.30, reinforcing JNJ’s shareholder?return profile and supporting demand from income?oriented investors. 24/7 Wall St.: Dividend increase
• Neutral Sentiment: Options flow and heightened analyst/press coverage have increased short?term attention on JNJ; this can amplify moves but doesn’t change fundamentals by itself. Benzinga: Options trends
• Neutral Sentiment: Institutional investors and some analysts have been increasing exposure and lifting targets, supporting medium?term demand; monitor whether upgrades translate into sustained inflows. MarketBeat: Institutional/analyst interest
• Negative Sentiment: Two senior executives (Vanessa Broadhurst and Timothy Schmid) recently sold material blocks of shares, which investors often view as a negative signal or a source of additional supply. InsiderTrades: Executive share sales SEC Form 4 (Schmid)
• Negative Sentiment: Ongoing talc litigation and media coverage keep legal and valuation overhangs in focus, which can cap multiple expansion even as operational results improve. Yahoo Finance: Oncology vs talc litigation risk

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Argus boosted their price target on Johnson & Johnson from $210.00 to $240.00 in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Leerink Partners boosted their target price on Johnson & Johnson from $201.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. HSBC raised their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $240.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $222.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $262.00 target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $233.73.

Johnson & Johnson Trading Up 0.6%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 1.03. The business has a 50 day moving average of $219.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $198.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $593.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.35.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, January 31st. The company reported $2.46 EPS for the quarter. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 33.04% and a net margin of 28.46%.The business had revenue of $24.28 billion during the quarter. Equities analysts predict that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 24th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 24th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.06%.

Insider Activity at Johnson & Johnson

In related news, EVP Vanessa Broadhurst sold 6,197 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.39, for a total transaction of $1,508,287.83. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 23,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,598,700.17. This trade represents a 21.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Timothy Schmid sold 22,623 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $244.33, for a total value of $5,527,477.59. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 26,769 shares in the company, valued at $6,540,469.77. This represents a 45.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Johnson & Johnson

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 240,349,660 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,740,362,000 after buying an additional 3,731,074 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 133,869,843 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,704,364,000 after purchasing an additional 1,663,782 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 60,609,476 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,227,988,000 after buying an additional 1,225,676 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth about $6,924,523,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,832,777 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,789,914,000 after buying an additional 956,239 shares during the last quarter. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson is a multinational healthcare company headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey, that develops, manufactures and markets a broad range of products across pharmaceuticals, medical devices and previously consumer health. Founded in 1886 by the Johnson family, the company has grown into a global healthcare organization with operations and sales in many countries around the world.

The company’s pharmaceuticals business, organized largely under its Janssen research and development organization, focuses on prescription medicines across therapeutic areas such as immunology, infectious disease, oncology and neuroscience.