Howard Capital Management Inc. Acquires Shares of 4,413 Johnson Controls International plc (NYSE:JCI)

Howard Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Johnson Controls International plc (NYSE:JCI) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $348,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of JCI. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Johnson Controls International by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 25,087 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,947,000 after purchasing an additional 1,833 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Johnson Controls International in the third quarter valued at about $7,692,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Johnson Controls International by 14.2% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 26,762 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,077,000 after buying an additional 3,334 shares in the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Johnson Controls International during the third quarter worth about $220,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in Johnson Controls International by 41.0% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 64,657 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,992,000 after buying an additional 18,800 shares during the period. 90.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

JCI has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Johnson Controls International from $75.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Johnson Controls International from $92.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Johnson Controls International from $86.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Melius downgraded Johnson Controls International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $95.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Johnson Controls International from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.13.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Nathan D. Manning sold 1,421 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.44, for a total transaction of $108,621.24. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 148,346 shares in the company, valued at $11,339,568.24. This represents a 0.95 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO George Oliver sold 162,894 shares of Johnson Controls International stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.28, for a total value of $14,543,176.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,203,893 shares in the company, valued at $107,483,567.04. The trade was a 11.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 708,700 shares of company stock valued at $62,083,088 in the last 90 days. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Johnson Controls International Stock Performance

NYSE:JCI opened at $83.87 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market cap of $55.36 billion, a PE ratio of 32.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.32. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $82.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $78.67. Johnson Controls International plc has a 1-year low of $58.15 and a 1-year high of $91.14.

Johnson Controls International (NYSE:JCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. Johnson Controls International had a return on equity of 15.11% and a net margin of 6.83%. On average, equities analysts expect that Johnson Controls International plc will post 3.64 EPS for the current year.

Johnson Controls International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were issued a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 23rd. Johnson Controls International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.49%.

Johnson Controls International Company Profile

Johnson Controls International plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in engineering, manufacturing, commissioning, and retrofitting building products and systems in the United States, Europe, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. It operates in four segments: Building Solutions North America, Building Solutions EMEA/LA, Building Solutions Asia Pacific, and Global Products.