03:10 PM EDT, 05/01/2024 (MT Newswires) -- CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows:

JNJ shares are up more than 4.5% intraday on the announcement of a new plan via its subsidiary, LLT Management LLC, to resolve 99.75% of all pending lawsuits related to the talc cancer allegations. Based on the company's news release today, JNJ plans to commit $6.5 billion over 25 years to plaintiffs who claimed to have developed cancer due to exposure to JNJ's talc product. While JNJ seems very committed to resolve this issue, 75% of the claimants have to approve the plan during the three-month solicitation period provided. We think associated litigation and reputational risks from the talc lawsuits are high and have been weighing on valuations for some time. Thus, if JNJ manages to resolve this issue, in the anticipated time frame or earlier, we think this could positively impact valuations. We maintain our target price at $156, 14.1x our 2025 EPS estimate, below JNJ's five-year historical forward P/E average. We lower our 2024 EPS view to $10.67 from $10.73 and 2025's to $11.03 from $11.23.