Share Buyback Program Initiated by Johnson Controls International (NYSE:JCI) Board of Directors

Johnson Controls International (NYSE:JCI) announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Friday, June 13th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $9.00 billion in 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 an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on JCI. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Johnson Controls International from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Johnson Controls International from $81.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Vertical Research raised 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. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Johnson Controls International from $90.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Johnson Controls International from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $97.88.

Johnson Controls International Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of NYSE JCI opened at $101.80 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $66.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.33. Johnson Controls International has a 12-month low of $64.31 and a 12-month high of $104.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $90.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.87.

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

Johnson Controls International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 23rd. Johnson Controls International’s payout ratio is currently 39.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Johnson Controls International

In other Johnson Controls International news, VP Nathan D. Manning sold 1,422 shares of Johnson Controls International stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.72, for a total transaction of $113,361.84. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 145,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,599,419.44. The trade was a 0.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Marc Vandiepenbeeck sold 28,289 shares of Johnson Controls International stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.92, for a total value of $2,572,035.88. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 147,673 shares in the company, valued at $13,426,429.16. The trade was a 16.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 147,555 shares of company stock valued at $13,669,414 in the last quarter. 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.