Short Interest in John Bean Technologies Co. (NYSE:JBT) Expands By 13.2%

John Bean Technologies Co. (NYSE:JBT) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,540,000 shares, a growth of 13.2% from the May 31st total of 1,360,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 283,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.4 days. Currently, 4.9% of the company’s shares are sold short.

John Bean Technologies Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of JBT traded up $0.63 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $91.31. The company had a trading volume of 145,122 shares, compared to its average volume of 253,103. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $94.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $97.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a current ratio of 2.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.27. John Bean Technologies has a 1 year low of $88.03 and a 1 year high of $125.88.

John Bean Technologies (NYSE:JBT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $392.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $396.55 million. John Bean Technologies had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 36.12%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.94 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that John Bean Technologies will post 5.15 EPS for the current year.

John Bean Technologies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 22nd. John Bean Technologies’s payout ratio is presently 2.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of John Bean Technologies in a report on Thursday, May 2nd.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On John Bean Technologies

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of John Bean Technologies by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,524,626 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $369,698,000 after acquiring an additional 31,798 shares in the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of John Bean Technologies by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,545,159 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $162,072,000 after acquiring an additional 112,035 shares in the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of John Bean Technologies by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 926,553 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $97,186,000 after acquiring an additional 6,272 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of John Bean Technologies by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 878,152 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $87,332,000 after acquiring an additional 51,608 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of John Bean Technologies by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 728,649 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $72,467,000 after acquiring an additional 40,366 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.92% of the company’s stock.

John Bean Technologies Company Profile

John Bean Technologies Corporation provides technology solutions to food and beverage industry in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Latin America. It offers value-added processing that includes chilling, mixing/grinding, injecting, blending, marinating, tumbling, flattening, forming, portioning, coating, cooking, frying, freezing, extracting, pasteurizing, sterilizing, concentrating, high pressure processing, weighing, inspecting, filling, closing, sealing, end of line material handling, and packaging solutions to the food, beverage, and health market.