Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Trading 2% Higher – Still a Buy?

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) traded up 2% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $235.22 and last traded at $232.8060. 8,021,543 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 4% from the average session volume of 8,346,921 shares. The stock had previously closed at $228.17.

Key Headlines Impacting Johnson & Johnson

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

• Positive Sentiment: Jim Cramer highlighted Johnson & Johnson’s lack of major patent expirations and pointed to its billion-dollar drugs and growing businesses as reasons to own the stock. Jim Cramer Highlights Johnson & Johnson Having No Big Patent Expirations
• Positive Sentiment: ASCO 2026 updates underscored Johnson & Johnson’s expanding specialty-drug pipeline, with encouraging data in autoimmunity, oncology, and myeloma that could support longer-term revenue growth. ASCO 2026 Data Underscore Johnson & Johnson’s Expanding Specialty Drug Story
• Positive Sentiment: Separate market coverage noted Johnson & Johnson has been outperforming the broader market recently, reinforcing investor confidence in the defensive healthcare name. Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) Exceeds Market Returns: Some Facts to Consider
• Neutral Sentiment: Newsweek named Johnson & Johnson among the world’s greenest companies for 2026, which is supportive for ESG-focused investors but unlikely to move the stock on its own. Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson, MetLife Named Among Newsweek’s World’s Greenest Companies 2026
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts highlighted ongoing headwinds, including Stelara erosion, China MedTech pressure, and talc litigation, though J&J is still targeting $100 billion in revenue and faster growth in 2026. Can JNJ Sustain Growth Amid Patent, Legal and China Risks?

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on JNJ shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. HSBC lifted their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $237.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Johnson & Johnson presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $253.04.

Johnson & Johnson Stock Up 2.0%

The company has a market capitalization of $560.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.91, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 1.03. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $231.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $225.96.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 14th. The company reported $2.70 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $24.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.60 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 32.60% and a net margin of 21.83%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.77 EPS. Johnson & Johnson has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.450-11.650 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 11.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 26th will be paid a dividend of $1.34 per share. This represents a $5.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 26th. This is a positive change from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.30. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.97%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Johnson & Johnson

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.6% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 133,869,843 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,704,364,000 after buying an additional 1,663,782 shares in the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 22,225.6% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 69,419,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,436,633,000 after buying an additional 69,108,368 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 57,953,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,967,947,000 after buying an additional 1,738,292 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $6,924,523,000. 69.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Johnson & Johnson Company Profile

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.