UBS Group Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Jabil (NYSE:JBL) Stock

Jabil (NYSE:JBL) had its target price boosted by analysts at UBS Group from $152.00 to $157.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the technology company’s stock. UBS Group’s target price suggests a potential upside of 8.26% from the company’s current price.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Jabil from $160.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Barclays boosted their price target on Jabil from $157.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com cut Jabil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 price target (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 assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $167.50.

Jabil Price Performance

NYSE JBL opened at $145.02 on Friday. Jabil has a one year low of $95.85 and a one year high of $174.80. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $155.96 and a 200 day moving average of $138.15. The company has a market capitalization of $15.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.90, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 1.06.

Jabil (NYSE:JBL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The technology company reported $1.94 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.11. Jabil had a return on equity of 41.87% and a net margin of 4.71%. The company had revenue of $6.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.40 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.68 EPS. Jabil’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Jabil will post 8.05 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Christopher S. Holland sold 3,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.27, for a total transaction of $551,718.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 12,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,093,283. The trade was a 20.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John C. Plant sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The shares were 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. This represents a 89.45 % 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 in the last quarter. 1.73% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Jabil

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Jabil during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Jabil during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in Jabil in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its position in Jabil by 90.3% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 274 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in Jabil by 113.7% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 297 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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).