Jack in the Box Inc. (NASDAQ:JACK) Short Interest Up 18.1% in June

Jack in the Box Inc. (NASDAQ:JACK) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,370,000 shares, an increase of 18.1% from the May 31st total of 1,160,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 573,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days. Approximately 7.2% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on JACK. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of Jack in the Box from $98.00 to $75.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $59.00 price objective on shares of Jack in the Box in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Jack in the Box from $99.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Jack in the Box from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Jack in the Box from $87.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.94.

Insider Activity at Jack in the Box

In related news, CEO Darin S. Harris sold 598 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.64, for a total transaction of $30,880.72. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 90,887 shares in the company, valued at $4,693,404.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 800 shares of company stock worth $41,514. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of JACK. EntryPoint Capital LLC boosted its position in Jack in the Box by 73.2% during the 1st quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 866 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 366 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Jack in the Box in the 1st quarter valued at $97,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in Jack in the Box by 21.8% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,541 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $126,000 after buying an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Jack in the Box by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,993 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $163,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Jack in the Box in the third quarter valued at about $220,000. 99.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Jack in the Box Stock Down 1.0 %

JACK opened at $50.94 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $54.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.17. The stock has a market cap of $987.73 million, a P/E ratio of 8.97, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.88. Jack in the Box has a 12 month low of $49.33 and a 12 month high of $99.56.

Jack in the Box (NASDAQ:JACK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 14th. The restaurant operator reported $1.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $365.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $369.53 million. Jack in the Box had a negative return on equity of 16.97% and a net margin of 7.07%. Jack in the Box’s quarterly revenue was down 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.47 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Jack in the Box will post 6.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jack in the Box Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 6th were issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 6th. Jack in the Box’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.99%.

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.