Simmons Bank Purchases Shares of 1,440 Jabil Inc. (NYSE:JBL)

Simmons Bank acquired a new position in Jabil Inc. (NYSE:JBL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 1,440 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of JBL. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Jabil in the third quarter worth $32,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Jabil by 90.3% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 274 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Jabil in the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in Jabil in the third quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of Jabil by 412.7% during the 4th quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 364 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 293 shares during the period. 93.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on JBL shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Jabil from $160.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Jabil from $157.00 to $179.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 price target (up from $150.00) on shares of Jabil in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Jabil from $128.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Jabil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Jabil currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $158.83.

Jabil Stock Performance

NYSE:JBL opened at $153.86 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $158.75 and a 200-day moving average of $134.29. The firm has a market cap of $16.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.23. 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $95.85 and a twelve month high of $174.80.

Jabil (NYSE:JBL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The technology company reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $6.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.61 billion. Jabil had a return on equity of 41.87% and a net margin of 4.71%. Jabil’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.60 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Jabil Inc. will post 8.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jabil Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.21%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Jabil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 3.07%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John C. Plant sold 50,000 shares of Jabil stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.55, for a total transaction of $8,627,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,018,045. This trade represents a 89.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Steven A. Raymund sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.30, for a total value of $3,026,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 119,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,021,040.40. This trade represents a 14.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 77,400 shares of company stock worth $12,804,458 over the last 90 days. 1.73% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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).