Ceredex Value Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in Jabil Inc. (NYSE:JBL)

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Jabil Inc. (NYSE:JBL - Free Report) by 72,212.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 289,250 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 288,850 shares during the quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.23% of Jabil worth $36,850,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Jabil by 71.2% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,232,495 shares of the technology company's stock worth $549,457,000 after purchasing an additional 2,591,893 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Jabil in the fourth quarter valued at about $102,656,000. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Jabil by 15.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,525,084 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,335,528,000 after acquiring an additional 1,440,857 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Jabil by 230.6% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,863,230 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $115,018,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299,593 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Jabil by 1,610.7% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,198,451 shares of the technology company's stock worth $6,215,000 after purchasing an additional 1,128,393 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.39% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on JBL shares. StockNews.com lowered Jabil from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Jabil from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 15th. Argus downgraded shares of Jabil from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Jabil from $151.00 to $149.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Jabil from $141.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $144.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Jabil

In other news, SVP Roberto Ferri sold 6,183 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.97, for a total transaction of $803,604.51. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 37,512 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,875,434.64. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, SVP Roberto Ferri sold 6,183 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.97, for a total transaction of $803,604.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 37,512 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,875,434.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director David M. Stout sold 31,300 shares of Jabil stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.12, for a total value of $3,853,656.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 67,300 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,285,976. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 87,483 shares of company stock worth $10,961,761 over the last three months. 2.62% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Jabil Stock Up 3.4 %

Shares of JBL stock traded up $4.59 on Friday, hitting $140.47. The stock had a trading volume of 1,147,582 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,646,049. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The business has a 50 day moving average of $137.64 and a 200 day moving average of $130.05. Jabil Inc. has a 12-month low of $75.48 and a 12-month high of $156.94. The stock has a market cap of $17.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.40.

Jabil (NYSE:JBL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, March 15th. The technology company reported $1.54 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.55 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $6.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.91 billion. Jabil had a return on equity of 39.27% and a net margin of 4.70%. As a group, analysts expect that Jabil Inc. will post 7.83 EPS for the current year.

Jabil Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 15th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 14th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.23%. Jabil's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.75%.

Jabil 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).