Empirical Finance LLC Raises Stock Position in Jabil Inc. (NYSE:JBL)

Empirical Finance LLC lifted its position in Jabil Inc. (NYSE:JBL) by 80.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,198 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,557 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Jabil were worth $1,467,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Meyer Handelman Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Jabil in the 4th quarter worth $7,334,000. Davis Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Jabil in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,433,000. Nicola Wealth Management LTD. lifted its stake in Jabil by 54.9% in the third quarter. Nicola Wealth Management LTD. now owns 39,500 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,733,000 after acquiring an additional 14,000 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Jabil during the 4th quarter worth about $235,000. Finally, Foster & Motley Inc. increased its position in Jabil by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 52,173 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,252,000 after purchasing an additional 4,181 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.39% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Jabil news, Director Christopher S. Holland sold 3,400 shares of Jabil stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John C. Plant sold 50,000 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at $1,018,045. The trade was a 89.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 77,400 shares of company stock valued at $12,804,458. 1.73% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Jabil Trading Down 0.2 %

Jabil stock opened at $165.36 on Monday. 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 has a market cap of $18.05 billion, a PE ratio of 15.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $150.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $128.82. Jabil Inc. has a one year low of $95.85 and a one year high of $174.80.

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

Jabil Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Jabil Company Profile

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).