Stock Repurchase Program Announced by Jacobs Solutions (NYSE:J) Board of Directors

Jacobs Solutions (NYSE:J) announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, February 4th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Jacobs Solutions in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Jacobs Solutions in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Jacobs Solutions from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Jacobs Solutions from $161.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $152.00 price objective on shares of Jacobs Solutions in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $156.00.

Jacobs Solutions Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:J traded down $4.89 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $133.89. 2,096,552 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 738,833. The company has a market cap of $16.61 billion, a PE ratio of 21.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $136.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $141.29. Jacobs Solutions has a 12-month low of $110.95 and a 12-month high of $150.54.

Jacobs Solutions (NYSE:J) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.04. Jacobs Solutions had a return on equity of 14.82% and a net margin of 5.16%. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.45 earnings per share. Jacobs Solutions’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Jacobs Solutions will post 6.06 EPS for the current year.

Jacobs Solutions Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This is an increase from Jacobs Solutions’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. Jacobs Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.33%.

About Jacobs Solutions

Jacobs Solutions Inc provides consulting, technical, engineering, scientific, and project delivery services for the government and private sectors in the United States, Europe, Canada, India, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East, and Africa. It operates through Critical Mission Solutions, People & Places Solutions, Divergent Solutions, and PA Consulting segments.