Jackson Financial Inc. (NYSE:JXN) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Jackson Financial Inc. (NYSE:JXN) saw a large decline in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,140,000 shares, a decline of 6.0% from the September 30th total of 3,340,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 699,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.5 days. Approximately 4.3% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Jackson Financial Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of Jackson Financial stock traded down $1.60 during trading on Thursday, hitting $101.17. 164,108 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 729,389. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $91.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.48. Jackson Financial has a 52-week low of $36.06 and a 52-week high of $104.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The firm has a market cap of $7.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 1.50.

Jackson Financial (NYSE:JXN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $5.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $1.00. The company had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.34 EPS. Jackson Financial’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Jackson Financial will post 18.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jackson Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 5th were issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 5th. Jackson Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.34%.

Jackson Financial announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, August 7th that allows the company to repurchase $750.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 10.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Jackson Financial

In other Jackson Financial news, EVP Carrie Chelko sold 5,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.31, for a total value of $502,205.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 61,829 shares in the company, valued at $5,645,605.99. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Jackson Financial

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Jackson Financial by 3.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,471,335 shares of the company’s stock worth $332,035,000 after acquiring an additional 163,598 shares in the last quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. boosted its holdings in Jackson Financial by 20.1% in the first quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 2,376,476 shares of the company’s stock worth $157,180,000 after acquiring an additional 397,287 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Jackson Financial by 6.5% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,623,071 shares of the company’s stock worth $120,529,000 after acquiring an additional 98,792 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Jackson Financial by 146.3% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,219,218 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,525,000 after acquiring an additional 724,148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Jackson Financial by 6.4% in the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,106,063 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,155,000 after acquiring an additional 66,534 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

JXN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Jackson Financial from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Jackson Financial from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Barclays raised their price target on Jackson Financial from $109.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Jackson Financial from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Jackson Financial currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $80.33.

About Jackson Financial

Jackson Financial Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides suite of annuities to retail investors in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Retail Annuities, Institutional Products, and Closed Life and Annuity Blocks. The Retail Annuities segment offers various retirement income and savings products, including variable, fixed index, fixed, and payout annuities, as well as registered index-linked annuities and lifetime income solutions.