Norges Bank Makes New $218.43 Million Investment in Jabil Inc. (NYSE:JBL)

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Jabil Inc. (NYSE:JBL) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 1,517,932 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $218,430,000. Norges Bank owned approximately 1.39% of Jabil as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Jabil during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Jabil during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in Jabil in the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Jabil by 90.3% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 274 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Jabil during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 93.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on JBL. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Jabil from $160.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Jabil from $172.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Jabil from $152.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays increased their target price on Jabil from $179.00 to $184.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 price target (up from $150.00) on shares of Jabil in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Jabil has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $167.50.

Jabil Price Performance

JBL opened at $135.97 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 1.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.84 billion, a PE ratio of 13.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $154.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $139.84. Jabil Inc. has a 52-week low of $95.85 and a 52-week high of $174.80.

Jabil (NYSE:JBL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 4.71% and a return on equity of 41.87%. The business had revenue of $6.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.68 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Jabil Inc. will post 8.05 EPS for the current year.

Jabil Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.24%. Jabil’s payout ratio is 7.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Steven A. Raymund sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.30, for a total transaction of $3,026,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 119,108 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,021,040.40. The trade was a 14.38 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John C. Plant sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.55, for a total transaction of $8,627,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,018,045. The trade was a 89.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 77,400 shares of company stock worth $12,804,458. Company insiders own 1.73% of the company’s stock.

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).