Johnson Controls International Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:JCI)

Johnson Controls International plc (NYSE:JCI) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders bought 19,207 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 1,963% compared to the typical volume of 931 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on JCI shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Johnson Controls International from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Johnson Controls International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $101.00 to $112.00 in a report on Monday. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Johnson Controls International from $90.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Johnson Controls International from $82.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Johnson Controls International from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.35.

Johnson Controls International Stock Performance

JCI stock opened at $96.32 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The firm has a market cap of $63.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.28. Johnson Controls International has a 12-month low of $64.31 and a 12-month high of $97.11. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $81.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.96.

Johnson Controls International (NYSE:JCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. Johnson Controls International had a return on equity of 15.11% and a net margin of 6.83%. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.78 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Johnson Controls International will post 3.64 EPS for the current year.

Johnson Controls International Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 24th were paid a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 24th. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. Johnson Controls International’s payout ratio is 39.47%.

Insider Activity

In other Johnson Controls International news, VP Nathan D. Manning sold 1,422 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.72, for a total value of $113,361.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 145,502 shares in the company, valued at $11,599,419.44. This represents a 0.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director George Oliver sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.70, for a total value of $9,170,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 904,305 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $82,924,768.50. This represents a 9.96% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 623,290 shares of company stock valued at $53,188,746 in the last 90 days. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of JCI. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Johnson Controls International by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,444,686 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,483,104,000 after purchasing an additional 288,576 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Johnson Controls International by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 23,344,374 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,842,571,000 after acquiring an additional 1,325,500 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Johnson Controls International by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 18,407,597 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,452,912,000 after acquiring an additional 2,150,573 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Johnson Controls International by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 15,743,019 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,242,597,000 after purchasing an additional 447,513 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Johnson Controls International by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,818,777 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,087,670,000 after purchasing an additional 343,517 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.05% of the company’s stock.

Johnson Controls International Company Profile

Johnson Controls International plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in engineering, manufacturing, commissioning, and retrofitting building products and systems in the United States, Europe, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. It operates in four segments: Building Solutions North America, Building Solutions EMEA/LA, Building Solutions Asia Pacific, and Global Products.