Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC Purchases 21,000 Shares of John Bean Technologies Co. (NYSE:JBT)

Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of John Bean Technologies Co. (NYSE:JBT - Free Report) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 920,281 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 21,000 shares during the period. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC owned 2.89% of John Bean Technologies worth $91,522,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of JBT. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in John Bean Technologies by 3.6% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 5,821 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $689,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of John Bean Technologies by 4.6% in the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 6,476 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $761,000 after buying an additional 282 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in shares of John Bean Technologies by 6.7% in the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 2,992 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $354,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in shares of John Bean Technologies by 11.5% in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 30,180 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $3,575,000 after buying an additional 3,120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of John Bean Technologies by 55.8% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 16,840 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,995,000 after buying an additional 6,030 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.92% of the company's stock.

John Bean Technologies Stock Down 3.6 %

Shares of NYSE:JBT traded down $3.45 on Wednesday, reaching $93.62. The company had a trading volume of 272,194 shares, compared to its average volume of 208,913. John Bean Technologies Co. has a twelve month low of $89.96 and a twelve month high of $125.88. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $100.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $101.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.78, a current ratio of 2.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

John Bean Technologies (NYSE:JBT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The industrial products company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $444.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $445.81 million. John Bean Technologies had a return on equity of 12.15% and a net margin of 33.53%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.49 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that John Bean Technologies Co. will post 5.15 EPS for the current year.

John Bean Technologies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 11th were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 8th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. John Bean Technologies's payout ratio is presently 2.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $121.00 price target on shares of John Bean Technologies in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, John Bean Technologies has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $121.00.

John Bean Technologies Profile

John Bean Technologies Corporation provides technology solutions to food and beverage industry in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Latin America. It offers value-added processing that includes chilling, mixing/grinding, injecting, blending, marinating, tumbling, flattening, forming, portioning, coating, cooking, frying, freezing, extracting, pasteurizing, sterilizing, concentrating, high pressure processing, weighing, inspecting, filling, closing, sealing, end of line material handling, and packaging solutions to the food, beverage, and health market.