Johnson Controls International's (JCI) Hold Rating Reiterated at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group restated their hold rating on shares of Johnson Controls International (NYSE:JCI - Free Report) in a research report report published on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a $120.00 price target on the stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Johnson Controls International from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $101.00 to $112.00 in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Johnson Controls International from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Johnson Controls International from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Johnson Controls International from $100.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $110.00 target price (up previously from $94.00) on shares of Johnson Controls International in a report on Monday, July 14th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Johnson Controls International currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $104.11.

Johnson Controls International Stock Performance

NYSE JCI traded up $1.83 during trading on Thursday, reaching $111.85. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,130,778 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,956,660. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $73.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.31. Johnson Controls International has a 12 month low of $64.31 and a 12 month high of $112.00. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $103.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $89.93.

Johnson Controls International (NYSE:JCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. Johnson Controls International had a return on equity of 15.13% and a net margin of 10.19%. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.78 EPS. The company's revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Johnson Controls International will post 3.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Johnson Controls International Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 23rd. Johnson Controls International's payout ratio is presently 39.47%.

Johnson Controls International declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Friday, June 13th that authorizes the company to buyback $9.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 13.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Johnson Controls International news, Director George Oliver sold 100,000 shares of Johnson Controls International stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.70, for a total transaction of $9,170,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 904,305 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $82,924,768.50. The trade was a 9.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Anuruddha Rathninde sold 15,000 shares of Johnson Controls International stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.13, for a total value of $1,546,950.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 42,574 shares in the company, valued at $4,390,656.62. The trade was a 26.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 147,555 shares of company stock valued at $13,705,106 over the last 90 days. 0.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. NorthRock Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Johnson Controls International by 28.6% in the 2nd quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 11,682 shares of the company's stock worth $1,234,000 after acquiring an additional 2,600 shares in the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners raised its position in shares of Johnson Controls International by 54.4% in the 2nd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 857 shares of the company's stock worth $91,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Johnson Controls International by 103.8% in the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,445,588 shares of the company's stock worth $151,310,000 after acquiring an additional 736,157 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Johnson Controls International by 38.6% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 77,339 shares of the company's stock worth $8,169,000 after acquiring an additional 21,535 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lawson Kroeker Investment Management Inc. NE bought a new position in shares of Johnson Controls International in the 2nd quarter worth about $222,000. 90.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Johnson Controls International

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.