Jabil Inc. (NYSE:JBL) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Jabil Inc. (NYSE:JBL) was the target of a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,560,000 shares, a growth of 22.8% from the February 28th total of 2,900,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,500,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days. Approximately 3.4% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Frederic E. Mccoy sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.81, for a total transaction of $599,240.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 138,472 shares in the company, valued at $20,744,490.32. The trade was a 2.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director John C. Plant sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $1,018,045. This trade represents a 89.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 77,400 shares of company stock worth $12,804,458 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.73% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Jabil

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of JBL. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Jabil by 70,781.4% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,808,730 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $835,876,000 after buying an additional 5,800,535 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Jabil in the fourth quarter worth $218,430,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in Jabil by 1,007.6% in the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 965,629 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $138,954,000 after acquiring an additional 878,444 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its stake in Jabil by 406.5% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 722,800 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $86,613,000 after acquiring an additional 580,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its holdings in Jabil by 16,190.6% during the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 552,740 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $79,539,000 after acquiring an additional 549,347 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.39% of the company’s stock.

Jabil Trading Down 9.6 %

Shares of NYSE JBL traded down $13.33 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $125.42. 929,203 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,436,872. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $152.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $140.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The company has a market capitalization of $13.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.19. Jabil has a 52-week low of $95.85 and a 52-week high of $174.80.

Jabil (NYSE:JBL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The technology company reported $1.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $6.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.40 billion. Jabil had a net margin of 4.71% and a return on equity of 41.87%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.68 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Jabil will post 8.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.26%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Jabil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.66%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Jabil from $160.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Jabil from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Jabil from $179.00 to $184.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Jabil from $172.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 target price (up from $150.00) on shares of Jabil in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Jabil has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $167.50.

About Jabil

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).