Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Reduces Position in Jabil Inc. (NYSE:JBL)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Jabil Inc. (NYSE:JBL) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 256,441 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 7,693 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.23% of Jabil worth $36,902,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Jabil during the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Jabil by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 3,273 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $471,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Jabil during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $403,000. Choreo LLC raised its stake in Jabil by 41.8% during the fourth quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 3,205 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $461,000 after buying an additional 945 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Jabil by 52.6% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 11,737 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,712,000 after buying an additional 4,045 shares in the last quarter. 93.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Jabil news, Director John C. Plant sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 $1,018,045. This trade represents a 89.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, 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 represents a 2.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 77,400 shares of company stock worth $12,804,458 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.73% of the company’s stock.

Jabil Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:JBL opened at $167.48 on Wednesday. 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 stock’s 50-day moving average is $151.89 and its 200-day moving average is $129.62. Jabil Inc. has a 52-week low of $95.85 and a 52-week high of $174.80. The company has a market cap of $18.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.23.

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

Jabil Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Jabil’s dividend payout ratio is 3.07%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

JBL has been the topic of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Jabil from $136.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Jabil from $128.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 price objective (up previously from $150.00) on shares of Jabil in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays upped their price objective on Jabil from $157.00 to $179.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Jabil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $153.17.

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).