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

Jackson Financial Inc. (NYSE:JXN) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in 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. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 853,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.9 days. Approximately 5.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Jackson Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Jackson Financial stock opened at $64.16 on Tuesday. Jackson Financial has a 52 week low of $26.70 and a 52 week high of $68.97. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.43. The firm has a market cap of $4.97 billion, a PE ratio of 6.54 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

Jackson Financial (NYSE:JXN) last posted its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.66 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Jackson Financial will post 15.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Jackson Financial Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other Jackson Financial news, Director Derek G. Kirkland acquired 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $55.67 per share, for a total transaction 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 purchase 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.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Jackson Financial

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of JXN. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Jackson Financial by 47.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 482 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Jackson Financial in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Jackson Financial in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Jackson Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its position in Jackson Financial by 4,347.8% in the 1st quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,023 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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