Johnson Controls International (NYSE:JCI) Hits New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Johnson Controls International plc (NYSE:JCI)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $90.25 and last traded at $90.78, with a volume of 2861 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $89.77.

Analyst Ratings Changes

JCI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Johnson Controls International from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Argus upgraded shares of Johnson Controls International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $88.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Johnson Controls International from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Melius cut shares of Johnson Controls International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $95.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Johnson Controls International from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $90.00 to $103.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.13.

Johnson Controls International Trading Down 1.9 %

The stock has a market cap of $58.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.85, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $81.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.18.

Johnson Controls International (NYSE:JCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. Johnson Controls International had a net margin of 6.83% and a return on equity of 15.11%. On average, research analysts expect that Johnson Controls International plc will post 3.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Johnson Controls International Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were paid a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 23rd. Johnson Controls International’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.49%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO George Oliver sold 170,430 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.70, for a total value of $14,264,991.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,166,992 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,677,230.40. This represents a 12.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Nathan D. Manning sold 1,421 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.44, for a total transaction of $108,621.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 148,346 shares in the company, valued at $11,339,568.24. The trade was a 0.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 889,434 shares of company stock valued at $77,215,058 over the last ninety days. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Johnson Controls International

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Johnson Controls International by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,156,110 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,379,562,000 after acquiring an additional 179,743 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in Johnson Controls International by 1.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,939,766 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,178,595,000 after acquiring an additional 300,712 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Johnson Controls International by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 23,344,374 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,842,571,000 after acquiring an additional 1,325,500 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Johnson Controls International by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 18,407,597 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,452,912,000 after acquiring an additional 2,150,573 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Johnson Controls International by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 15,743,019 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,242,597,000 after acquiring an additional 447,513 shares during the period. 90.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Johnson Controls International

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.