Johnson Controls International (NYSE:JCI) Board Declares Stock Buyback Program

Johnson Controls International (NYSE:JCI) declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Friday, June 13th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $9.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 13.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on JCI. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Johnson Controls International from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Johnson Controls International from $90.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Johnson Controls International from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Vertical Research upgraded shares of Johnson Controls International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $105.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Johnson Controls International from $82.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.88.

Johnson Controls International Price Performance

Shares of Johnson Controls International stock opened at $101.80 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.02. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $90.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.86. Johnson Controls International has a twelve month low of $64.31 and a twelve month high of $104.15. The firm has a market cap of $66.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.33.

Johnson Controls International (NYSE:JCI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.64 billion. Johnson Controls International had a net margin of 6.83% and a return on equity of 15.11%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.78 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Johnson Controls International will post 3.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Johnson Controls International Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 23rd will be given a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 23rd. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.45%. Johnson Controls International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Johnson Controls International

In other news, VP Nathan D. Manning sold 1,422 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.90, for a total transaction of $143,479.80. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 143,282 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,457,153.80. This represents a 0.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Anuruddha Rathninde sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.13, for a total transaction of $1,546,950.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 42,574 shares in the company, valued at $4,390,656.62. The trade was a 26.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 147,555 shares of company stock worth $13,669,414 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

About Johnson Controls International

Johnson Controls International plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in engineering, manufacturing, commissioning, and retrofitting building products and systems in the United States, Europe, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. It operates in four segments: Building Solutions North America, Building Solutions EMEA/LA, Building Solutions Asia Pacific, and Global Products.