Jackson Financial Inc. (NYSE:JXN) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Jackson Financial Inc. (NYSE:JXN) saw a large increase in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,830,000 shares, an increase of 15.7% from the May 31st total of 3,310,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 651,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.9 days. Approximately 5.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insider Activity at Jackson Financial

In other news, COO Devkumar Dilip Ganguly sold 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.67, for a total transaction of $983,710.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 93,405 shares in the company, valued at $7,067,956.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Jackson Financial news, COO Devkumar Dilip Ganguly sold 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.67, for a total value of $983,710.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 93,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,067,956.35. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Don W. Cummings acquired 1,445 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $72.70 per share, for a total transaction of $105,051.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now owns 45,711 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,323,189.70. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Jackson Financial

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Jackson Financial by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,933,228 shares of the company’s stock valued at $417,868,000 after buying an additional 1,518,547 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Jackson Financial in the fourth quarter valued at $51,189,000. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. grew its position in shares of Jackson Financial by 36.5% during the fourth quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 1,979,189 shares of the company’s stock worth $101,334,000 after acquiring an additional 528,976 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Jackson Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $25,459,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Jackson Financial by 10.6% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,175,970 shares of the company’s stock valued at $213,813,000 after purchasing an additional 399,665 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.96% of the company’s stock.

Jackson Financial Price Performance

JXN opened at $74.26 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $73.43 and a 200 day moving average of $61.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The stock has a market cap of $5.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.51. Jackson Financial has a 52-week low of $29.28 and a 52-week high of $81.52.

Jackson Financial (NYSE:JXN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $4.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.56. The firm had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.67 billion. The company’s revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.15 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Jackson Financial will post 16.98 EPS for the current year.

Jackson Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 6th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 6th. Jackson Financial’s payout ratio is 7.40%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Jackson Financial from $52.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered Jackson Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Jackson Financial from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Jackson Financial from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.00.

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.