Jabil Inc. (NYSE:JBL) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Jabil Inc. (NYSE:JBL) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $167.50.

JBL has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Jabil from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Jabil from $172.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Jabil from $160.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 price target (up previously from $150.00) on shares of Jabil in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Jabil from $179.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Frederic E. Mccoy sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.81, for a total value of $599,240.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 138,472 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,744,490.32. This trade represents a 2.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John C. Plant sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.55, for a total transaction of $8,627,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,018,045. This represents a 89.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 77,400 shares of company stock worth $12,804,458. Insiders own 1.73% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in JBL. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Jabil in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new stake in Jabil in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Jabil in the 4th quarter worth $37,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Jabil by 90.3% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 274 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Jabil during the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. 93.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Jabil Price Performance

Shares of JBL opened at $138.87 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.19. The business’s 50-day moving average is $152.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $140.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 1.06. Jabil has a fifty-two week low of $95.85 and a fifty-two week high of $174.80.

Jabil (NYSE:JBL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The technology company reported $1.94 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.11. Jabil had a return on equity of 41.87% and a net margin of 4.71%. The firm had revenue of $6.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.40 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.68 earnings per share. Jabil’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Jabil will post 8.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Jabil Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Jabil’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.66%.

Jabil Company Profile

Jabil Inc provides manufacturing services and solutions worldwide. It operates in two segments, Electronics Manufacturing Services and Diversified Manufacturing Services. The company offers electronics design, production, and product management services; electronic circuit design services, such as application-specific integrated circuit design, firmware development, and rapid prototyping services; and designs plastic and metal enclosures that include the electro-mechanics, such as the printed circuit board assemblies (PCBA).