Stifel Nicolaus Begins Coverage on Jabil (NYSE:JBL)

Stifel Nicolaus began coverage on shares of Jabil (NYSE:JBL) in a report published on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $245.00 target price on the technology company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on JBL. Bank of America raised their target price on Jabil from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Barclays raised their price objective on Jabil from $206.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. Argus raised Jabil from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Jabil from $188.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Jabil from $180.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $225.71.

Jabil Stock Performance

Jabil stock opened at $224.55 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $178.31 and a 200-day moving average of $158.66. The company has a market capitalization of $24.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.20. Jabil has a 1 year low of $95.85 and a 1 year high of $227.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.64.

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

Jabil Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.14%. Jabil’s payout ratio is currently 6.21%.

Insider Transactions at Jabil

In other Jabil news, EVP Andrew Priestley sold 13,913 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.17, for a total value of $2,826,704.21. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 53,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,875,283.76. The trade was a 20.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Mark T. Mondello sold 150,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.33, for a total value of $28,999,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 1,560,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $301,631,919.36. This trade represents a 8.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 316,431 shares of company stock valued at $60,571,609. 1.73% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Jabil

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Jabil by 12.9% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,556,153 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $892,096,000 after buying an additional 747,423 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Jabil by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,533,149 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $796,220,000 after buying an additional 416,841 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Jabil by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,810,519 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $404,024,000 after buying an additional 34,574 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Jabil by 15.7% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,173,095 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $295,693,000 after acquiring an additional 295,496 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Jabil during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $218,430,000. 93.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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).