Jabil (NYSE:JBL) Downgraded to “Hold” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Jabil (NYSE:JBL) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Tuesday morning.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 price objective (up from $150.00) on shares of Jabil in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Jabil from $128.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Jabil from $160.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Jabil from $157.00 to $179.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $158.83.

Jabil Price Performance

Jabil stock opened at $157.38 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $17.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $158.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $133.98. Jabil has a 12-month low of $95.85 and a 12-month high of $174.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

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

Jabil Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid 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 0.20%. Jabil’s dividend payout ratio is presently 3.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Jabil

In other Jabil news, EVP Frederic E. Mccoy sold 4,000 shares of Jabil stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $20,744,490.32. The trade was a 2.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 Jabil 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,900 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,018,045. This represents a 89.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 77,400 shares of company stock worth $12,804,458. 1.73% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Meyer Handelman Co. acquired a new position in shares of Jabil during the fourth quarter worth about $7,334,000. Davis Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Jabil during the fourth quarter worth about $1,433,000. Nicola Wealth Management LTD. increased its stake in shares of Jabil by 54.9% during the third quarter. Nicola Wealth Management LTD. now owns 39,500 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,733,000 after acquiring an additional 14,000 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Jabil during the fourth quarter worth about $235,000. Finally, Foster & Motley Inc. increased its stake in shares of Jabil by 8.7% during the third quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 52,173 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,252,000 after acquiring an additional 4,181 shares during the period. 93.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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).