Jabil Inc. (NYSE:JBL) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Jabil Inc. (NYSE:JBL) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,560,000 shares, a decrease of 11.1% from the January 15th total of 2,880,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,340,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.9 days. Currently, 2.4% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays raised their price objective on Jabil from $157.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Jabil from $128.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Jabil from $136.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 target price (up previously from $150.00) on shares of Jabil in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Jabil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $153.17.

Jabil Stock Performance

NYSE:JBL traded down $0.22 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $169.43. The stock had a trading volume of 1,067,733 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,300,466. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 1.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.24, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.23. Jabil has a twelve month low of $95.85 and a twelve month high of $174.80. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $155.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $131.77.

Jabil (NYSE:JBL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The technology company reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $6.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.61 billion. Jabil had a net margin of 4.71% and a return on equity of 41.87%. The firm’s revenue was down 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.60 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Jabil will post 8.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jabil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.19%. Jabil’s payout ratio is currently 3.07%.

Insider Activity at Jabil

In other Jabil news, EVP Frederic E. Mccoy sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John C. Plant sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.55, for a total value of $8,627,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,900 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,018,045. The trade was a 89.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 77,400 shares of company stock valued at $12,804,458 over the last quarter. 1.73% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Jabil

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Jabil by 70,781.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,808,730 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $835,876,000 after buying an additional 5,800,535 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Jabil by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,533,149 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $796,220,000 after buying an additional 416,841 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its holdings in Jabil by 0.3% in the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 3,692,560 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $442,479,000 after buying an additional 9,685 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Jabil by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,810,519 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $404,024,000 after buying an additional 34,574 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Jabil by 12,251.7% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,206,384 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $264,391,000 after buying an additional 2,188,521 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.39% of the company’s stock.

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).