First Manhattan CO. LLC. Acquires 9,851 Shares of Jacobs Solutions Inc. (NYSE:J)

First Manhattan CO. LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Jacobs Solutions Inc. (NYSE:J) by 125.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,688 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,851 shares during the quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC.’s holdings in Jacobs Solutions were worth $2,363,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Heritage Family Offices LLP boosted its holdings in Jacobs Solutions by 55.7% in the fourth quarter. Heritage Family Offices LLP now owns 14,912 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,993,000 after acquiring an additional 5,332 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lifted its position in Jacobs Solutions by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 9,767 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,305,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the period. Occidental Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Jacobs Solutions by 11.7% in the 4th quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC now owns 25,045 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,347,000 after purchasing an additional 2,619 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in shares of Jacobs Solutions by 956.8% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 264,824 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,386,000 after buying an additional 239,764 shares during the period. Finally, Keene & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Jacobs Solutions during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,973,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on J. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Jacobs Solutions from $154.00 to $152.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Jacobs Solutions from $154.00 to $148.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Jacobs Solutions from $161.00 to $151.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Jacobs Solutions from $152.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their target price on Jacobs Solutions from $141.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $149.29.

Jacobs Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of J stock opened at $122.78 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.77. Jacobs Solutions Inc. has a 52 week low of $106.23 and a 52 week high of $156.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.25. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $120.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $130.81.

Jacobs Solutions (NYSE:J) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3 billion. Jacobs Solutions had a net margin of 4.28% and a return on equity of 14.87%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.91 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Jacobs Solutions Inc. will post 6.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jacobs Solutions Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. Jacobs Solutions’s payout ratio is presently 35.26%.

Jacobs Solutions declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, February 4th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy up to 9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Jacobs Solutions Profile

Jacobs Solutions Inc provides consulting, technical, engineering, scientific, and project delivery services for the government and private sectors in the United States, Europe, Canada, India, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East, and Africa. It operates through Critical Mission Solutions, People & Places Solutions, Divergent Solutions, and PA Consulting segments.