Freedom Investment Management Inc. Boosts Stake in Jabil Inc. (NYSE:JBL)

Freedom Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Jabil Inc. (NYSE:JBL - Free Report) by 139.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,331 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 7,180 shares during the period. Freedom Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Jabil were worth $1,774,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Jabil by 33.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 327,969 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $39,300,000 after buying an additional 82,312 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC increased its holdings in Jabil by 157.9% in the 3rd quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 15,091 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,808,000 after buying an additional 9,239 shares in the last quarter. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Jabil by 365.6% during the third quarter. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd now owns 20,767 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,474,000 after purchasing an additional 16,307 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Jabil during the 3rd quarter valued at $347,000. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Jabil by 92.8% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 18,056 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,164,000 after acquiring an additional 8,693 shares during the period. 93.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on JBL shares. Barclays boosted their price objective 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. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Jabil from $152.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Jabil from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Jabil from $175.00 to $154.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Jabil from $175.00 to $146.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Jabil presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $158.50.

Insider Activity

In other Jabil news, Director John C. Plant sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.55, for a total transaction of $8,627,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,900 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,018,045. This trade represents a 89.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Christopher S. Holland sold 3,400 shares of Jabil stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.27, for a total value of $551,718.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 73,400 shares of company stock valued at $11,810,418. 1.73% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Jabil Stock Performance

JBL traded up $6.42 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $139.66. 667,560 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,473,037. Jabil Inc. has a 1 year low of $95.85 and a 1 year high of $174.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.12. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $141.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $141.69.

Jabil (NYSE:JBL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The technology company reported $1.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $6.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.40 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.68 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Jabil Inc. will post 8.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jabil Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.23%. Jabil's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.66%.

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).