Jones Lang LaSalle (NYSE:JLL) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Jones Lang LaSalle (NYSE:JLL) was upgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Sunday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on JLL. Citigroup restated 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. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Jones Lang LaSalle from $368.00 to $401.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Jones Lang LaSalle in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Jones Lang LaSalle presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $427.60.

Jones Lang LaSalle Stock Performance

NYSE JLL opened at $379.57 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $330.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $325.39. Jones Lang LaSalle has a fifty-two week low of $259.83 and a fifty-two week high of $395.79. The company has a market cap of $17.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.42 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 2.43 and a current ratio of 2.43.

Jones Lang LaSalle (NYSE:JLL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $6.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.15 by $0.61. The company had revenue of $7.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.50 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Jones Lang LaSalle will post 25.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Jones Lang LaSalle news, CEO Christian Ulbrich sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $385.53, for a total value of $771,060.00. Following the completion of 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 6,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,271,060 in the last ninety days. 0.91% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Jones Lang LaSalle during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,446,414,000. Artemis Investment Management LLP increased its position in shares of Jones Lang LaSalle by 23.2% during the third quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 460,389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $140,658,000 after purchasing an additional 86,563 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Jones Lang LaSalle by 279.6% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 429,418 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $130,683,000 after purchasing an additional 316,299 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Jones Lang LaSalle by 338.6% during the 3rd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 315,152 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $96,285,000 after purchasing an additional 243,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Jones Lang LaSalle by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 303,446 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $92,345,000 after purchasing an additional 3,985 shares during the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Jones Lang LaSalle

Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated, commonly known as JLL, is a global commercial real estate services and investment management company. It advises businesses, property owners, investors and public-sector organizations on real estate decisions and operations.

Its services include leasing and sales, property and facilities management, project and development management, valuation, workplace consulting and capital markets advisory. Through LaSalle Investment Management, JLL also manages real estate investments for institutional and other clients.

The company traces its history to 1783 and took its current name following the 1999 merger of Jones Lang Wootton and LaSalle Partners.