Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Johnson Controls International (NYSE:JCI)

Johnson Controls International plc (NYSE:JCI) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 19,207 call options on the company. This is an increase of 1,963% compared to the average daily volume of 931 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Johnson Controls International

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Johnson Controls International by 2.6% during the third quarter. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC now owns 92,945 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,946,000 after buying an additional 2,336 shares during the last quarter. RPG Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Johnson Controls International by 19.3% in the fourth quarter. RPG Investment Advisory LLC now owns 196,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,330,000 after acquiring an additional 31,759 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its stake in shares of Johnson Controls International by 249.8% in the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 23,934 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,274,000 after buying an additional 17,091 shares during the period. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd raised its stake in shares of Johnson Controls International by 89.4% in the fourth quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 253,859 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,632,000 after buying an additional 119,844 shares during the period. Finally, Wealthspire Advisors LLC raised its stake in Johnson Controls International by 47.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 4,595 shares of the company’s stock valued at $244,000 after purchasing an additional 1,481 shares during the period. 90.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Johnson Controls International from $64.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Mizuho lowered Johnson Controls International from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $62.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Argus downgraded Johnson Controls International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Melius Research reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Johnson Controls International in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Johnson Controls International from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.50.

Johnson Controls International Stock Performance

Shares of JCI stock opened at $60.44 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.97. The company has a market capitalization of $41.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.69, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $63.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $57.13. Johnson Controls International has a fifty-two week low of $47.90 and a fifty-two week high of $70.43.

Johnson Controls International (NYSE:JCI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51. The company had revenue of $6.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.94 billion. Johnson Controls International had a return on equity of 13.08% and a net margin of 7.85%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.67 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Johnson Controls International will post 3.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Johnson Controls International Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 19th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th were paid a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.45%. Johnson Controls International’s payout ratio is 48.21%.

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.