Jabil (NYSE:JBL) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

Jabil (NYSE:JBL) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Friday.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Jabil from $172.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. UBS Group upped their price target on Jabil from $152.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 price objective (up previously from $150.00) on shares of Jabil in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Jabil from $179.00 to $184.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Jabil from $160.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. 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, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $167.50.

Jabil Price Performance

Jabil stock opened at $145.02 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. Jabil has a 52-week low of $95.85 and a 52-week high of $174.80. The firm has a market cap of $15.83 billion, a PE ratio of 13.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.19. The company’s 50 day moving average is $155.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $138.15.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Jabil news, Director Steven A. Raymund sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.30, for a total transaction of $3,026,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 119,108 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,021,040.40. This represents a 14.38 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Christopher S. Holland sold 3,400 shares of Jabil stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.27, for a total transaction of $551,718.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 12,900 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,093,283. The trade was a 20.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 77,400 shares of company stock valued at $12,804,458 over the last quarter. 1.73% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Jabil

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in JBL. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Jabil by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,533,149 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $796,220,000 after acquiring an additional 416,841 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position 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 worth $404,024,000 after acquiring an additional 34,574 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Jabil by 18.2% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,877,599 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $270,187,000 after acquiring an additional 288,806 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Jabil during the 4th quarter worth $218,430,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.39% of the company’s stock.

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).