Short Interest in Jackson Financial Inc. (NYSE:JXN) Increases By 18.6%

Jackson Financial Inc. (NYSE:JXN) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,210,000 shares, a growth of 18.6% from the March 15th total of 3,550,000 shares. Approximately 5.6% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 853,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.9 days.

Jackson Financial Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of JXN opened at $64.16 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.54 and a beta of 1.57. Jackson Financial has a one year low of $26.70 and a one year high of $68.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.33. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $59.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.43.

Jackson Financial (NYSE:JXN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $2.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.53 by ($1.00). The business had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.40 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.66 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Jackson Financial will post 15.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jackson Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 12th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 11th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.36%. This is a boost from Jackson Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Jackson Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.54%.

Insider Transactions at Jackson Financial

In related news, Director Derek G. Kirkland bought 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was bought at an average price of $55.67 per share, with a total value of $194,845.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 37,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,100,206.42. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Jackson Financial

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Jackson Financial by 16.1% during the third 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 in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in Jackson Financial by 3.7% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,480,689 shares of the company’s stock valued at $198,374,000 after buying an additional 231,800 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Jackson Financial by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,175,970 shares of the company’s stock valued at $213,813,000 after buying an additional 399,665 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Jackson Financial by 1.3% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,157,287 shares of the company’s stock valued at $155,525,000 after buying an additional 52,814 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in Jackson Financial by 45,699.9% during the third quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 3,241,261 shares of the company’s stock valued at $124,043,000 after buying an additional 3,234,184 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on JXN shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Jackson Financial from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Jackson Financial in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Jackson Financial from $52.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Jackson Financial from $39.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on Jackson Financial from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $61.80.

Jackson Financial Company Profile

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.