Raymond James Financial Reiterates “Strong-Buy” Rating for Jabil (NYSE:JBL)

Raymond James Financial reissued their strong-buy rating on shares of Jabil (NYSE:JBL) in a report released on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has a $230.00 price target on the technology company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $170.00.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Barclays upped their target price on Jabil from $206.00 to $223.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Jabil from $188.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Jabil from $180.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded Jabil from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Argus upgraded Jabil from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Jabil presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.00.

Jabil Stock Performance

Jabil stock opened at $204.43 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $159.27 and a 200-day moving average of $152.00. Jabil has a 1 year low of $95.85 and a 1 year high of $207.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The company has a market capitalization of $21.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.14.

Jabil (NYSE:JBL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, June 17th. The technology company reported $2.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.27. Jabil had a return on equity of 60.19% and a net margin of 2.02%. The business had revenue of $7.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Jabil will post 8.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Jabil Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 15th. Jabil’s payout ratio is 6.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Michael Dastoor sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.90, for a total value of $1,699,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 221,693 shares in the company, valued at $37,665,640.70. This trade represents a 4.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Mark T. Mondello sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.75, for a total value of $3,335,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,710,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $285,174,516. This represents a 1.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 50,000 shares of company stock worth $7,665,200. Corporate insiders own 1.73% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Jabil

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Jabil in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV purchased a new stake in Jabil in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new stake in Jabil in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in Jabil by 110.5% in the 1st quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 221 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Groupe la Francaise raised its position in Jabil by 35.2% in the 1st quarter. Groupe la Francaise now owns 246 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. 93.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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).