Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Johnson Controls International (NYSE:JCI)

Johnson Controls International plc (NYSE:JCI) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 19,207 call options on the company. This is an increase of 1,963% compared to the typical volume of 931 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Marlon Sullivan sold 7,230 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.35, for a total transaction of $602,620.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 32,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,687,704.10. This represents a 18.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO George Oliver sold 110,616 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.60, for a total value of $9,358,113.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,244,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $105,294,598.20. This represents a 8.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 647,787 shares of company stock valued at $53,972,452 in the last three months. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Johnson Controls International

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in JCI. State Street Corp increased its position in Johnson Controls International by 1.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,939,766 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,178,595,000 after buying an additional 300,712 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Johnson Controls International by 3.4% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 15,295,506 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,187,084,000 after buying an additional 509,293 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Johnson Controls International by 0.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,475,260 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,041,822,000 after buying an additional 71,493 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Johnson Controls International by 514.9% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,391,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $418,439,000 after buying an additional 4,514,792 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates increased its position in Johnson Controls International by 5.6% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 4,735,147 shares of the company’s stock worth $367,495,000 after buying an additional 249,405 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

JCI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Johnson Controls International from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America raised their target price on Johnson Controls International from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Johnson Controls International from $88.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Mizuho raised their target price on Johnson Controls International from $62.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Johnson Controls International from $81.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Johnson Controls International currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.53.

Johnson Controls International Price Performance

Shares of NYSE JCI opened at $82.13 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.94. Johnson Controls International has a fifty-two week low of $52.02 and a fifty-two week high of $87.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.38 billion, a PE ratio of 32.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.32. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $81.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.03.

Johnson Controls International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were given a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 23rd. Johnson Controls International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.27%.

Johnson Controls International Company Profile

Johnson Controls International plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in engineering, manufacturing, commissioning, and retrofitting building products and systems in the United States, Europe, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. It operates in four segments: Building Solutions North America, Building Solutions EMEA/LA, Building Solutions Asia Pacific, and Global Products.