Jack in the Box Inc. (NASDAQ:JACK) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Jack in the Box Inc. (NASDAQ:JACK) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the seventeen brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have assigned a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $49.25.

JACK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Jack in the Box in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Jack in the Box from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. Barclays cut their target price on Jack in the Box from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Jack in the Box from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, TD Securities reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $42.00 price target on shares of Jack in the Box in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Jack in the Box

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in JACK. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its position in Jack in the Box by 96.7% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 899 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 442 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in shares of Jack in the Box in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Jack in the Box by 229.7% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,055 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 735 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Jack in the Box by 99.5% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,235 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 616 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in Jack in the Box by 168.6% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,558 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 978 shares in the last quarter. 99.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Jack in the Box Stock Down 0.9 %

JACK stock opened at $27.19 on Thursday. Jack in the Box has a twelve month low of $26.69 and a twelve month high of $68.89. The company has a market cap of $512.75 million, a P/E ratio of -13.94, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.95. The business has a fifty day moving average of $36.32 and a 200-day moving average of $41.82.

Jack in the Box (NASDAQ:JACK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The restaurant operator reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $469.44 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $470.47 million. Jack in the Box had a negative return on equity of 15.79% and a negative net margin of 2.34%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Jack in the Box will post 5.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jack in the Box Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be given a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.47%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. Jack in the Box’s dividend payout ratio is presently -82.63%.

About Jack in the Box

Jack in the Box Inc operates and franchises Jack in the Box and Del Taco quick-service restaurants in the United States. The company was founded in 1951 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.