Empirical Finance LLC Increases Stake in Jabil Inc. (NYSE:JBL)

Empirical Finance LLC raised its holdings in shares of Jabil Inc. (NYSE:JBL) by 80.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,198 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,557 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Jabil were worth $1,467,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Jabil by 12,251.7% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,206,384 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $264,391,000 after acquiring an additional 2,188,521 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its position in shares of Jabil by 406.5% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 722,800 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $86,613,000 after purchasing an additional 580,100 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Jabil by 11.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,116,308 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $613,087,000 after purchasing an additional 520,672 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its holdings in shares of Jabil by 595.5% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 343,137 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $41,118,000 after purchasing an additional 293,801 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC lifted its position in Jabil by 29.0% during the third quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 574,938 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $68,895,000 after buying an additional 129,400 shares in the last quarter. 93.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Jabil

In related news, Director Christopher S. Holland sold 3,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.27, for a total transaction of $551,718.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,093,283. The trade was a 20.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Frederic E. Mccoy sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.81, for a total value of $599,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 138,472 shares in the company, valued at $20,744,490.32. This represents a 2.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 77,400 shares of company stock valued at $12,804,458. 1.73% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Jabil Stock Performance

Shares of JBL stock opened at $165.36 on Monday. Jabil Inc. has a one year low of $95.85 and a one year high of $174.80. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average price is $150.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $128.82. The firm has a market cap of $18.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.23.

Jabil (NYSE:JBL) last released its quarterly 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 return on equity of 41.87% and a net margin of 4.71%. The company had revenue of $6.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.61 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.60 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Jabil Inc. will post 8.05 EPS for the current year.

Jabil Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 presently 3.07%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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).