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

Jackson Financial Inc. (NYSE:JXN) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,210,000 shares, an increase of 18.6% from the March 15th total of 3,550,000 shares. Currently, 5.6% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 853,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.9 days.

Jackson Financial Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE:JXN opened at $64.16 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.43. The stock has a market cap of $4.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.54 and a beta of 1.57. Jackson Financial has a 1 year low of $26.70 and a 1 year high of $68.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.33.

Jackson Financial (NYSE:JXN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $2.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.53 by ($1.00). The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.66 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Jackson Financial will post 15.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jackson Financial Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Jackson Financial news, Director Derek G. Kirkland bought 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was bought at an average price of $55.67 per share, with a total value of $194,845.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 37,726 shares in the company, valued at $2,100,206.42. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Jackson Financial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Jackson Financial by 47.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 482 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Jackson Financial during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Jackson Financial during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Jackson Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in Jackson Financial by 4,347.8% during the 1st quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,023 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. 89.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

JXN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Jackson Financial from $52.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Jackson Financial from $39.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Evercore ISI raised 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 raised their price target on Jackson Financial from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Jackson Financial in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Jackson Financial 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.