Jack in the Box Inc. (NASDAQ:JACK) Short Interest Up 5.5% in September

Jack in the Box Inc. (NASDAQ:JACK) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,930,000 shares, a growth of 5.5% from the September 15th total of 1,830,000 shares. Approximately 10.4% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 546,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.5 days.

Insider Transactions at Jack in the Box

In related news, CFO Brian M. Scott sold 696 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.66, for a total value of $33,867.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 13,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $642,360.66. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Jack in the Box

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. EntryPoint Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Jack in the Box by 73.2% in the first quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 866 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 366 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Jack in the Box during the 1st quarter worth approximately $97,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in 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 worth $163,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Jack in the Box in the third quarter valued at approximately $185,000. Finally, Selway Asset Management bought a new stake in Jack in the Box in the third quarter valued at approximately $228,000. 99.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on JACK. Bank of America reduced their price target on Jack in the Box from $77.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 19th. UBS Group decreased their price target on Jack in the Box from $55.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Jack in the Box from $70.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Jack in the Box from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Jack in the Box from $83.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.56.

Jack in the Box Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of JACK stock opened at $46.71 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $905.71 million, a P/E ratio of 8.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.94. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $47.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $52.43. Jack in the Box has a 12-month low of $40.84 and a 12-month high of $86.20.

Jack in the Box (NASDAQ:JACK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $369.17 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $371.81 million. Jack in the Box had a negative return on equity of 16.46% and a negative net margin of 2.30%. Jack in the Box’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.45 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Jack in the Box will post 6.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jack in the Box Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 19th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th were given a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. Jack in the Box’s payout ratio is presently 30.99%.

Jack in the Box Company Profile

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.