Jackson Financial Inc. (NYSE:JXN) Short Interest Down 25.8% in March

Jackson Financial Inc. (NYSE:JXN - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,840,000 shares, a decrease of 25.8% from the March 15th total of 3,830,000 shares. Currently, 4.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 938,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.0 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Jackson Financial news, CEO Craig Donald Smith sold 20,607 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.52, for a total value of $1,432,598.64. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 116,423 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,093,726.96. This trade represents a 15.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott Romine sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.43, for a total transaction of $591,010.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 85,276 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,199,852.68. This trade represents a 7.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Jackson Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in JXN. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Jackson Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at about $253,000. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Jackson Financial by 251.6% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 134,001 shares of the company's stock worth $12,223,000 after purchasing an additional 95,893 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Jackson Financial in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Tidal Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Jackson Financial in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,733,000. Finally, DGS Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Jackson Financial during the third quarter valued at approximately $478,000. 89.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on JXN. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Jackson Financial from $92.00 to $86.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Jackson Financial from $105.00 to $90.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on Jackson Financial from $118.00 to $106.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $91.40.

Jackson Financial Trading Up 6.9 %

JXN traded up $5.02 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $77.78. 47,925 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 896,434. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.79 and a beta of 1.49. Jackson Financial has a 1-year low of $64.70 and a 1-year high of $115.22. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $81.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $90.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

Jackson Financial (NYSE:JXN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $4.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $4.72 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.81 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Jackson Financial will post 20.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jackson Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th were issued a $0.80 dividend. This is an increase from Jackson Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.11%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 11th. Jackson Financial's payout ratio is 27.95%.

About Jackson Financial

Jackson Financial Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides suite of annuities to retail investors in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Retail Annuities, Institutional Products, and Closed Life and Annuity Blocks. The Retail Annuities segment offers various retirement income and savings products, including variable, fixed index, fixed, and payout annuities, as well as registered index-linked annuities and lifetime income solutions.