Portolan Capital Management LLC Acquires Shares of 24,031 Jabil Inc. (NYSE:JBL)

Portolan Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Jabil Inc. (NYSE:JBL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 24,031 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $3,458,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Jabil in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of Jabil during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in Jabil during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Jabil by 90.3% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 274 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Jabil during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.39% of the company's stock.

Jabil Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of Jabil stock traded up $1.10 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $134.97. 1,016,031 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,481,218. The firm has a market cap of $14.49 billion, a PE ratio of 12.94, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.12. The stock's fifty day moving average is $142.95 and its 200 day moving average is $141.69. 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 quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 1.06.

Jabil (NYSE:JBL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The technology company reported $1.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.11. Jabil had a return on equity of 41.87% and a net margin of 4.71%. The company had revenue of $6.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.68 EPS. Jabil's revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Jabil Inc. will post 8.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Jabil Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.24%. Jabil's payout ratio is currently 7.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Jabil

In other news, Chairman Mark T. Mondello sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.56, for a total transaction of $2,631,200.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 1,730,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $227,624,059.52. This trade represents a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Christopher S. Holland sold 3,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 12,900 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,093,283. This trade represents a 20.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 73,400 shares of company stock worth $11,810,418 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on JBL. StockNews.com lowered Jabil from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Jabil from $179.00 to $184.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Jabil from $152.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Jabil from $175.00 to $154.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Jabil from $175.00 to $146.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $158.50.

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).