Short Interest in Jabil Inc. (NYSE:JBL) Grows By 22.8%

Jabil Inc. (NYSE:JBL) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,560,000 shares, a growth of 22.8% from the February 28th total of 2,900,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,500,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days. Currently, 3.4% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on JBL shares. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 price objective (up previously from $150.00) on shares of Jabil in a report on Thursday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased 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, February 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Jabil from $172.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. StockNews.com raised shares of Jabil from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Jabil from $179.00 to $184.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Jabil has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $167.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Jabil

In other news, Director Steven A. Raymund sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.30, for a total transaction of $3,026,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 119,108 shares in the company, valued at $18,021,040.40. The trade was a 14.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Frederic E. Mccoy sold 4,000 shares of the 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 directly owns 138,472 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,744,490.32. This represents a 2.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 77,400 shares of company stock valued at $12,804,458. 1.73% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Jabil

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in JBL. Meyer Handelman Co. acquired a new position in Jabil in the 4th quarter valued at about $7,334,000. Davis Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Jabil during the fourth quarter worth about $1,433,000. Truist Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Jabil by 50.4% in the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 12,037 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,732,000 after buying an additional 4,034 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Jabil during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $235,000. Finally, Keybank National Association OH purchased a new position in shares of Jabil during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $214,000. 93.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Jabil Price Performance

NYSE JBL traded up $2.45 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $138.87. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 912,154 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,438,442. 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 company’s 50-day moving average is $152.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $140.28. Jabil has a fifty-two week low of $95.85 and a fifty-two week high of $174.80. The stock has a market cap of $15.16 billion, a PE ratio of 13.31, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.19.

Jabil (NYSE:JBL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The technology company reported $1.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.11. Jabil had a net margin of 4.71% and a return on equity of 41.87%. The company had revenue of $6.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.40 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.68 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Jabil will post 8.05 EPS for the current year.

Jabil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.23%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Jabil’s payout ratio is 7.66%.

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).