Johnson & Johnson Shares Drop Friday, Week Ahead in Focus

16 May 2026

New York, May 16, 2026, 17:04 EDT

Johnson & Johnson ended down 1.77% at $226.71 on Friday, but shares added around 2.4% for the week.
NYSE is closed for the weekend. Regular core trading will run from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time on exchange days.
Investors are looking to fresh pipeline updates and a medtech rollout next week instead of new earnings reports.

Johnson & Johnson stock starts the week above Friday’s lows. The drug and medical-device company fell 1.77% to $226.71 on Friday as markets dropped, but the shares ended last week with a gain.

J&J had run up earlier in the week, closing at $221.43 Monday, $224.26 Tuesday, $230.42 Wednesday and $230.80 Thursday, then lost ground Friday, Investing.com data show. Despite the drop, it ended about 2.4% over its May 8 close.

Healthcare stocks slid with the market shut for the weekend, so investors are left questioning if Friday’s move was just index selling or a new leg down for the sector. The S&P 500 dropped 1.24% Friday. Pfizer gave up 1.63%, Merck fell 1.79%, and Johnson & Johnson also lost ground, according to MarketWatch’s Friday trading wrap.

J&J looks to pipeline depth this week, not a single event. The company said it will present 18 neuropsychiatry abstracts at the American Psychiatric Association meeting in San Francisco, May 16-20, and at the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology meeting in Miami, May 26-29.

Johnson & Johnson is trying to tackle lingering symptoms left by standard medicines, according to Jane Tiller, who leads neuroscience development at J&J’s Innovative Medicine division. Her comments came in the company’s May 11 statement. The company will present data for CAPLYTA in schizophrenia, plus seltorexant data in major depression with insomnia symptoms.

J&J’s medtech unit put out a new product update. On May 12, the company announced it launched the Shockwave C2 Aero Coronary IVL Catheter worldwide. IVL stands for intravascular lithotripsy. The device uses acoustic waves to break up tough calcium in arteries, making it easier for doctors to restore blood flow.

Shockwave C2 Aero “makes it easier to navigate tortuous coronary anatomy,” said Margaret McEntegart, director of the Complex Percutaneous Coronary Intervention Program at Columbia University Medical Center/New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Isaac Zacharias, president of Shockwave Medical at J&J MedTech, said the company is “redefining standards for coronary IVL” as new rivals look to join the market. JNJ.com

J&J’s earnings picture still looks solid, but most of this is already in view. The company posted first-quarter revenue of $24.1 billion back in April, almost 10% higher than the year before, and raised its 2026 guidance to $100.8 billion in projected sales with adjusted EPS pegged at $11.55, midpoint. CEO Joaquin Duato called it a “strong start to 2026.” Johnson & Johnson Investor Relations

But the risks are clear. Stelara used to be a big seller for autoimmune disease, but lost patent protection and now faces cheaper biosimilar rivals. Stelara’s first-quarter sales dropped by around 60% to $656 million, according to Reuters, with Darzalex and Tremfya picking up some of the slack.

J&J CFO Joseph Wolk told Reuters some patients are sticking with drugs like Tremfya rather than moving to biosimilars. Executive vice president Jennifer Taubert said Icotyde, approved recently for psoriasis, is seeing “a very fast start” and could end up as one of J&J’s top products. Reuters

The stock stays in a usual spot for a big healthcare player: its size and dividend lifts help guard it, but it still faces some product-cycle risk. J&J bumped its quarterly dividend 3.1% to $1.34 in April, its 64th annual increase in a row. Shareholders of record as of May 26 get the next payment on June 9.

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Khadija Saeed is a financial markets reporter at TS2.tech. Her coverage ranges from stocks and technology to emerging industries and developments across global markets. She studied economics and finance at the London School of Economics and worked in market research before becoming a financial journalist. Follow Khadija Saeed on Google News.

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