Johnson Controls International plc (NYSE:JCI) Short Interest Update

Johnson Controls International plc (NYSE:JCIGet Free Report) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,940,000 shares, a drop of 14.9% from the September 30th total of 10,510,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,300,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days. Approximately 1.3% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on JCI. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Johnson Controls International from $79.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Johnson Controls International from $73.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Johnson Controls International from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Johnson Controls International from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Johnson Controls International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 26th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $73.43.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on JCI

Johnson Controls International Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE JCI traded down $0.85 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $75.47. The company had a trading volume of 2,151,243 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,954,581. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. Johnson Controls International has a 1 year low of $48.53 and a 1 year high of $78.23. The company has a market capitalization of $50.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.29. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $74.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $70.29.

Johnson Controls International (NYSE:JCIGet Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $7.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.53 billion. Johnson Controls International had a net margin of 6.02% and a return on equity of 13.64%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.03 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Johnson Controls International will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Johnson Controls International Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 25th were issued a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 25th. Johnson Controls International’s payout ratio is 61.92%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Nathan D. Manning sold 1,167 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.75, for a total value of $84,899.25. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 143,488 shares in the company, valued at $10,438,752. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, COO Nathan D. Manning sold 1,167 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.75, for a total value of $84,899.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 143,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,438,752. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO George Oliver sold 110,615 shares of Johnson Controls International stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.67, for a total transaction of $8,038,392.05. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,243,751 shares in the company, valued at $90,383,385.17. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 226,327 shares of company stock worth $16,916,720 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Johnson Controls International by 85.5% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,142,736 shares of the company’s stock valued at $923,804,000 after purchasing an additional 6,520,580 shares during the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its position in shares of Johnson Controls International by 686.4% during the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 4,445,418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,487,000 after buying an additional 3,880,146 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc bought a new stake in shares of Johnson Controls International during the 1st quarter worth $120,948,000. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its position in Johnson Controls International by 413.5% in the first quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 1,935,465 shares of the company’s stock worth $126,425,000 after acquiring an additional 1,558,560 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its stake in Johnson Controls International by 4,782.9% in the first quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 1,254,613 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,798,000 after acquiring an additional 1,228,919 shares during the last quarter. 90.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Johnson Controls International

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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.

Further Reading

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