Jones Lang LaSalle (NYSE:JLL) Stock Moved Up to Strong-Buy by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Jones Lang LaSalle (NYSE:JLL) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Sunday,Wall Street Zen reports.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Jones Lang LaSalle from $415.00 to $385.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 9th. Raymond James Financial reiterated 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. Zacks Research downgraded Jones Lang LaSalle from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Citigroup restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Jones Lang LaSalle in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Jones Lang LaSalle from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Jones Lang LaSalle presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $427.60.

Jones Lang LaSalle Stock Up 0.0%

Jones Lang LaSalle stock opened at $370.93 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.05 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 2.43, a quick ratio of 2.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Jones Lang LaSalle has a twelve month low of $259.83 and a twelve month high of $395.79. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $330.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $325.26.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.15 by $0.61. Jones Lang LaSalle had a return on equity of 15.05% and a net margin of 3.89%. The firm had revenue of $7.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.24 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.50 earnings per share. Jones Lang LaSalle’s revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Jones Lang LaSalle will post 25.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Jones Lang LaSalle news, CEO Christian Ulbrich sold 2,000 shares of the firm’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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 138,418 shares in the company, valued at $53,364,291.54. This trade represents a 1.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 6,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,271,060 in the last 90 days. 0.91% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in JLL. Aberdeen Group plc lifted its stake in Jones Lang LaSalle by 22.7% in the third quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 67,215 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,536,000 after buying an additional 12,437 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Jones Lang LaSalle by 338.6% in the third quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 315,152 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $96,285,000 after acquiring an additional 243,300 shares during the period. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Jones Lang LaSalle by 13.9% in the third quarter. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. now owns 135,339 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,556,000 after acquiring an additional 16,468 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp grew its position in shares of Jones Lang LaSalle by 12.0% during the third quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 6,260 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,913,000 after acquiring an additional 672 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its position in shares of Jones Lang LaSalle by 16.4% during the third quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 2,737 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $836,000 after acquiring an additional 385 shares during the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.