Short Interest in Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. (NASDAQ:JKHY) Increases By 15.0%

Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. (NASDAQ:JKHY) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 5,105,830 shares, a growth of 15.0% from the March 31st total of 4,440,265 shares. Approximately 7.1% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 893,549 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.7 days.

Institutional Trading of Jack Henry & Associates

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Equitable Trust Co. purchased a new position in Jack Henry & Associates during the first quarter worth about $549,000. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Jack Henry & Associates by 1.4% in the first quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 29,900 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,719,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares during the period. Isthmus Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Jack Henry & Associates in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $398,000. Quantum Portfolio Management LLC purchased a new stake in Jack Henry & Associates in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $207,000. Finally, United Asset Strategies Inc. increased its position in Jack Henry & Associates by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. now owns 27,528 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,351,000 after purchasing an additional 1,327 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on JKHY. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Jack Henry & Associates from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Jack Henry & Associates from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Loop Capital initiated coverage on shares of Jack Henry & Associates in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. They set a “buy” rating and a $197.00 price objective on the stock. Wolfe Research set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Jack Henry & Associates and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Jack Henry & Associates from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $181.00 to $196.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Jack Henry & Associates currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.15.

Jack Henry & Associates Stock Performance

NASDAQ:JKHY opened at $153.75 on Friday. Jack Henry & Associates has a 12-month low of $144.12 and a 12-month high of $193.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $159.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $168.06. The firm has a market cap of $11.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.09, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.72.

Jack Henry & Associates (NASDAQ:JKHY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $611.18 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $608.46 million. Jack Henry & Associates had a return on equity of 23.75% and a net margin of 20.59%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.34 earnings per share. Jack Henry & Associates has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.610-6.720 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Jack Henry & Associates will post 6.67 EPS for the current year.

Jack Henry & Associates Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were given a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 5th. This is an increase from Jack Henry & Associates’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. Jack Henry & Associates’s payout ratio is currently 35.06%.

Jack Henry & Associates Company Profile

Jack Henry & Associates, Inc is a leading provider of technology solutions and payment processing services for the financial services industry. Founded in 1976 and headquartered in Monett, Missouri, the company develops and supports a comprehensive suite of software and services designed to help banks, credit unions and other financial institutions streamline operations, improve customer engagement and manage risk.

The company’s core processing platforms deliver end-to-end account processing, general ledger, deposit operations and loan servicing functionality.