Jack Henry & Associates (NASDAQ:JKHY) Upgraded to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Jack Henry & Associates (NASDAQ:JKHY) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Wednesday morning.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on JKHY. Bank of America upgraded Jack Henry & Associates from a neutral rating to a buy rating and lifted their price target for the company from $167.00 to $186.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 6th. TheStreet upgraded Jack Henry & Associates from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research report on Friday, December 29th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Jack Henry & Associates from $157.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a research report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird restated a neutral rating and issued a $176.00 price objective on shares of Jack Henry & Associates in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on Jack Henry & Associates in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. They issued a neutral rating and a $177.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $171.00.

Jack Henry & Associates Stock Up 3.5 %

Shares of JKHY stock opened at $172.26 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $170.99 and a 200 day moving average of $160.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market cap of $12.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.66. Jack Henry & Associates has a twelve month low of $136.57 and a twelve month high of $178.37.

Jack Henry & Associates (NASDAQ:JKHY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The technology company reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $545.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $540.34 million. Jack Henry & Associates had a return on equity of 22.67% and a net margin of 17.26%. Jack Henry & Associates’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.10 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Jack Henry & Associates will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Jack Henry & Associates Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Jack Henry & Associates’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. Jack Henry & Associates’s payout ratio is currently 43.05%.

Institutional Trading of Jack Henry & Associates

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Planned Solutions Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Jack Henry & Associates in the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Jack Henry & Associates in the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Jack Henry & Associates by 62.2% in the fourth quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 206 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Jack Henry & Associates in the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, West Tower Group LLC boosted its stake in Jack Henry & Associates by 602.8% during the fourth quarter. West Tower Group LLC now owns 253 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. 98.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Jack Henry & Associates

Jack Henry & Associates, Inc, a financial technology company that connects people and financial institutions through technology solutions and payment processing services that reduce the barriers to financial health. It operates through four segments: Core, Payments, Complementary, and Corporate and Other.