Jones Lang LaSalle (NYSE:JLL) Stock Bumped Down to “Buy” by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Jones Lang LaSalle (NYSE:JLL) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Barclays upped their price objective on Jones Lang LaSalle from $368.00 to $401.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Jones Lang LaSalle from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 18th. Citigroup reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Jones Lang LaSalle in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Jones Lang LaSalle from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Jones Lang LaSalle from $415.00 to $385.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $427.60.

Jones Lang LaSalle Price Performance

Jones Lang LaSalle stock opened at $359.53 on Friday. Jones Lang LaSalle has a 52 week low of $259.83 and a 52 week high of $393.84. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $331.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $324.51. The stock has a market cap of $16.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.56 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 2.40, a current ratio of 2.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Jones Lang LaSalle (NYSE:JLL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $6.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.15 by $0.61. The company had revenue of $7.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.24 billion. Jones Lang LaSalle had a return on equity of 15.05% and a net margin of 3.89%. Jones Lang LaSalle’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.50 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Jones Lang LaSalle will post 25.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Jones Lang LaSalle

In related news, CEO Christian Ulbrich sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $385.53, for a total transaction of $771,060.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 138,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,364,291.54. This represents a 1.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 6,000 shares of company stock worth $2,271,060. Corporate insiders own 0.91% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Jones Lang LaSalle in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,446,414,000. Artemis Investment Management LLP grew its stake in Jones Lang LaSalle by 23.2% in the 3rd quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 460,389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $140,658,000 after buying an additional 86,563 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Jones Lang LaSalle by 279.6% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 429,418 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $130,683,000 after buying an additional 316,299 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Jones Lang LaSalle by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 303,446 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $92,345,000 after buying an additional 3,985 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Jones Lang LaSalle in the 2nd quarter worth $87,669,000. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Jones Lang LaSalle Company Profile

Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated, doing business as JLL, is a global commercial real estate services and investment management company. It serves property owners, occupiers, investors and developers across a broad range of real estate sectors, including office, industrial, retail, residential, hospitality and specialized properties.

JLL’s services include leasing, capital markets and investment sales, property and facilities management, project and development management, valuation and advisory services, workplace strategy, sustainability consulting and real estate technology solutions.