John Bean Technologies Co. (NYSE:JBT) Short Interest Down 10.7% in August

John Bean Technologies Co. (NYSE:JBT) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,580,000 shares, a drop of 10.7% from the July 31st total of 1,770,000 shares. Currently, 5.0% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 307,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.1 days.

John Bean Technologies Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of JBT stock traded down $1.51 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $88.33. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 12,110 shares, compared to its average volume of 254,714. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $93.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $95.50. John Bean Technologies has a 52 week low of $86.75 and a 52 week high of $111.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 2.54. The company has a market cap of $2.81 billion, a PE ratio of 4.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.27.

John Bean Technologies (NYSE:JBT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The industrial products company reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.24 by ($0.19). John Bean Technologies had a return on equity of 9.67% and a net margin of 36.66%. The business had revenue of $402.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $432.67 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that John Bean Technologies will post 5.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

John Bean Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 19th. John Bean Technologies’s payout ratio is 2.13%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On John Bean Technologies

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in JBT. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in John Bean Technologies by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 72,789 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $7,239,000 after purchasing an additional 3,071 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in John Bean Technologies by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 878,152 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $87,332,000 after purchasing an additional 51,608 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of John Bean Technologies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $269,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of John Bean Technologies by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 349,880 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $34,796,000 after purchasing an additional 5,913 shares during the period. Finally, Wrapmanager Inc. raised its holdings in shares of John Bean Technologies by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 3,515 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $350,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.92% of the company’s stock.

About John Bean Technologies

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.