Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Lowers Holdings in Jack in the Box Inc. (NASDAQ:JACK)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in Jack in the Box Inc. (NASDAQ:JACK) by 28.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,817 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 732 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Jack in the Box were worth $148,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in JACK. Ancora Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Jack in the Box during the first quarter worth $25,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Jack in the Box by 102.6% during the fourth quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 468 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 237 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in shares of Jack in the Box by 45.8% during the first quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 621 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Jack in the Box by 211.9% during the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,341 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $130,000 after buying an additional 911 shares during the period. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new position in shares of Jack in the Box during the third quarter worth $93,000. 99.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Jack in the Box Price Performance

Jack in the Box stock opened at $59.64 on Friday. Jack in the Box Inc. has a 1-year low of $57.74 and a 1-year high of $99.56. The stock has a market cap of $1.17 billion, a PE ratio of 10.48, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.76. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $69.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $71.94.

Jack in the Box (NASDAQ:JACK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The restaurant operator reported $1.95 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95. Jack in the Box had a negative return on equity of 17.24% and a net margin of 7.03%. The company had revenue of $487.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $480.76 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.01 earnings per share. Jack in the Box’s quarterly revenue was down 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Jack in the Box Inc. will post 6.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jack in the Box Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Jack in the Box’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.93%.

Insider Transactions at Jack in the Box

In other news, Director Michael W. Murphy sold 1,332 shares of Jack in the Box stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.58, for a total transaction of $96,676.56. Following the sale, the director now owns 71,035 shares in the company, valued at $5,155,720.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on JACK. Wedbush upgraded Jack in the Box from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $79.00 to $88.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Jack in the Box from $80.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Jack in the Box from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Northcoast Research upgraded Jack in the Box from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Jack in the Box from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.67.

About Jack in the Box

Jack in the Box Inc operates and franchises Jack in the Box and Del Taco quick-service restaurants in the United States. The company was founded in 1951 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.