Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. (JKHY) Stock Price & How to Invest
Last updated October 2026
Short answer
Jack Henry & Associates (JKHY) sells the core processing, digital banking and payments software that roughly 7,400 community banks and credit unions run on, and its Nasdaq shares trade at most US brokers. It is a steady compounder rather than a fast grower: ~7% revenue growth, ~24% operating margins and almost no debt, priced at ~23x trailing earnings in October 2026 after a year of AI-disruption worries.
JKHY stock price
As of 2026-10-28, Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. (JKHY) last closed at $158.11, up 5.5% over the past year. Over the past 52 weeks it has traded between $123.42 and $192.60.
Prices are daily closing prices from Yahoo Finance and may be delayed. For the live quote, check your broker or Jack Henry & Associates, Inc.'s investor relations page. Walnut is informational, not investment advice.
What does Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. (JKHY) do?
Jack Henry & Associates, based in Monett, Missouri and founded in 1976, is the largest technology provider focused on community and regional banks and credit unions in the US. Its Core segment runs the ledger systems those institutions depend on (SilverLake, CIF 20/20 and Core Director for banks, Symitar for credit unions), increasingly hosted in the Jack Henry private cloud or on public cloud. Payments covers card processing, bill pay, ACH, real-time payments and its PayCenter hub. Complementary products include the Banno digital banking platform, fraud and risk tools, and lending software. Most revenue is recurring, billed per account or per transaction under multi-year contracts, which is why its revenue rarely swings much from one year to the next.
Fiscal 2026, which ended June 30, 2026, was a record year. GAAP revenue rose ~7.1% to ~$2.54 billion, adjusted (non-GAAP) revenue rose ~7.3% to ~$2.50 billion, and GAAP operating margin widened to ~25.0% from ~23.9%. Net income reached ~$503 million, or ~$6.98 per diluted share, up ~12%. Free cash flow jumped to ~$539 million from ~$410 million, funding ~$448 million of buybacks and ~$170 million of dividends. The fourth quarter was softer: GAAP revenue grew ~4.7% to ~$644 million while operating income fell ~12% as personnel, R&D and selling costs grew faster than sales and one-time deconversion fees shrank. The company signed a record 58 competitive core wins in the year, 14 of them institutions above $1 billion in assets, including its largest bank client ever, Woodforest National Bank.
For fiscal 2027, management guided to GAAP revenue of ~$2.68 billion to ~$2.71 billion, GAAP operating margin of ~24.5% to ~24.7% and GAAP EPS of ~$7.33 to ~$7.38. That is roughly 6% to 7% growth, slower than the prior year, and it disappointed some analysts, several of whom trimmed targets. At ~$162.55 on October 23, 2026, the stock carries a market value of ~$11.4 billion, ~23x trailing and ~22x forward earnings, and a ~1.5% dividend yield. It trades well below its 52-week high of ~$193 after a 2026 sell-off tied to fears that AI tools could erode software pricing, a concern management disputes because it does not sell per-seat licenses. The next report is expected around November 3, 2026.
What's driving Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. (JKHY)?
1. Taking core share from the big two
Jack Henry's growth engine is winning core processing contracts away from larger rivals, mainly Fiserv and FIS. It signed a record 58 competitive core wins in fiscal 2026, up from a typical 40 to 50 in prior years, and 14 of them were institutions with more than $1 billion in assets, a segment where Jack Henry historically had less presence. The Woodforest National Bank win shows it can now compete for larger regional banks. Core conversions take 12 to 24 months, so these signings mostly turn into revenue in fiscal 2027 and 2028, which gives the company unusual visibility into future sales. Core segment adjusted revenue grew ~7.1% in fiscal 2026.
2. Cloud migration of the installed base
Many existing clients still run Jack Henry software on their own premises. Moving them to Jack Henry's hosted private cloud, or to its public cloud architecture, raises recurring revenue per client because Jack Henry then bills for hosting, data processing and operations as well as the software. Private and public cloud data processing and hosting revenue grew ~8.5% in fiscal 2026 and ~7.4% in the fourth quarter, faster than the company overall. Management is also rebuilding its platform into cloud-native, component-based services that clients can adopt piece by piece. If that modernization succeeds, it lowers Jack Henry's own operating costs over time and makes it easier to win institutions wary of a single large conversion.
3. Payments and the trifecta bundle
The Payments segment, with card processing, bill pay, ACH and real-time payments through its PayCenter hub (which connects clients to the FedNow and RTP networks), grew adjusted revenue ~6.4% in fiscal 2026. Jack Henry's sales pitch increasingly bundles core, Banno digital banking and payments, which it calls the trifecta, and ~59% of fiscal 2026 core wins took all three. Bundles raise revenue per client and make a later switch even harder, since a departing bank would need to replace three systems at once. Payments volumes also rise with consumer spending and inflation, so this segment gives some growth that does not depend on signing new institutions.
4. Margins, cash flow and buybacks
Jack Henry runs with almost no debt (~$40 million drawn on its credit facility at June 30, 2026) and converts most of its profit into cash, so capital return is a meaningful part of the shareholder picture. Fiscal 2026 free cash flow was ~$539 million, and the company spent ~$448 million buying back shares at an average of ~$152, plus ~$170 million on dividends (now ~$2.44 per share a year). Fiscal 2027 guidance calls for 20 to 40 basis points of adjusted margin expansion to ~24.1% to ~24.3%, and free cash flow conversion of ~85% to ~100% of net income. Return on invested capital was ~23%, high for a company of its size.
What are the risks to Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. (JKHY)?
The most visible risk is a growth slowdown. Fiscal 2027 guidance of ~6% to 7% revenue growth is below fiscal 2026, and the fourth quarter showed costs rising faster than revenue: R&D was up ~17% and SG&A ~19%, while operating income fell ~12%. If that continues, the margin expansion story weakens. Second, the client base is consolidating. Community banks and credit unions merge every year, and when an acquirer runs a different core, Jack Henry loses the account and receives only a one-time deconversion fee (guided to just ~$23 million in fiscal 2027). A wave of bank mergers under a looser regulatory climate would hurt. Third, competition: Fiserv and FIS are cutting prices to defend share, and newer cloud-native cores such as Thought Machine and Temenos target the same buyers, while Q2 and Alkami compete hard in digital banking. Fourth, AI: investors worry that AI coding and agent tools lower the barrier to building banking software, compressing pricing across the sector. Finally, Jack Henry handles sensitive financial data for thousands of institutions, so a major outage or cyber breach would carry regulatory and reputational costs. At ~22x forward earnings, the shares already assume steady execution.
What is the Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. (JKHY) forecast?
19 analysts publish price targets on JKHY, averaging $188.11 against a $162.55 price as of October 2026, or +15.7%. The published targets run from $158.00 to $209.00, a narrow spread, and the ratings split 15 buy, 6 hold, 0 sell. Over the last six months there have been 3 raises and 1 cut among the published actions. A price target is what an analyst published on a date, not a prediction, and sell-side ratings skew positive across the whole market.
Read the full JKHY forecast and price target for the target table, the recent rating actions by firm, and how the consensus has shifted.
Is JKHY a buy or a sell?
We give no verdict on Jack Henry & Associates, Inc.. Both cases are real, which is why the question is contested at all, so here is the strongest version of each.
The case for buying. Taking core share from the big two. Jack Henry's growth engine is winning core processing contracts away from larger rivals, mainly Fiserv and FIS. The most optimistic published target, $209.00, assumes this works close to its best case.
The case against. The most visible risk is a growth slowdown. The most pessimistic target, $158.00, is roughly what JKHY is worth if this bites instead.
Read the full bull and bear case on JKHY, including what would have to change to break either one. Walnut is not an investment adviser.
How is Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. (JKHY) valued? (approximate, October 2026)
A simple financial snapshot. These are approximations and refresh quarterly; for current figures see Jack Henry & Associates, Inc.'s investor relations page or your broker.
- Revenue (FY2026, GAAP): ~$2.54 billion
- Net income (FY2026): ~$503 million
- Diluted EPS (FY2026): ~$6.98
- Market cap: ~$11.4 billion
- P/E (trailing): ~23x
- Dividend yield: ~1.5%
At ~$162.55 on October 23, 2026, Jack Henry trades at ~23x its fiscal 2026 EPS of ~$6.98 and ~22x the midpoint of fiscal 2027 GAAP EPS guidance (~$7.33 to ~$7.38). That is below its own five-year average, which often sat near 30x, and reflects a 2026 de-rating of financial software stocks on AI-disruption fears. With ~$539 million of free cash flow, the free cash flow yield is roughly ~4.7%. Fiserv and FIS trade at lower multiples, but both have faced slower growth and management turnover; Jack Henry's premium reflects its share gains and clean balance sheet.
Who competes with Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. (JKHY)?
Large core processors
Fiserv (FI) and FIS (FIS) are the two biggest US core providers and Jack Henry's most direct rivals, together serving most US banks. Jack Henry has been taking share from both, especially among community banks unhappy with service or pricing. Their scale and broader merchant and payments businesses are advantages; their slower innovation has been the opening Jack Henry exploits.
Digital banking specialists
Q2 Holdings (QTWO) and Alkami Technology (ALKT) sell online and mobile banking platforms to the same community banks and credit unions that use Jack Henry's Banno. They often sit on top of a rival's core, so they compete for the digital-banking dollar rather than the core contract, and they are growing faster than Jack Henry.
Cloud-native and international cores
Temenos, Finastra, Thought Machine and credit-union specialist Corelation (KeyStone) offer newer or modular core systems. Corelation is a strong rival to Symitar for credit unions, while cloud-native vendors pitch faster product launches. They are mostly smaller in the US community market today, but they shape what buyers expect from a modern core.
What stocks are similar to Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. (JKHY)?
Other names that sit close to JKHY: same theme, named as a direct competitor, or held beside it in the same funds. Each entry says which. Worth a look if you are thinking about diversification within a thesis rather than concentration on one ticker.
How to invest in Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. (JKHY)
There are three common ways to get JKHY exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) directly at any major broker. Hold an ETF that includes it, which spreads the position across many companies. Or build it into a focused thematic portfolio, so JKHY sits alongside other stocks that express the same thesis.
Walnut takes the portfolio route. Describe a thesis where JKHY fits (for example “AI infrastructure” or “dividend-growth large-caps”) and the AI proposes 5 to 6 constituents with target weights. You review the plan and fund it through your own broker when you're ready.
New to this? Start with how to invest in stocks, see how to analyze a stock with AI, or compare the best AI stock analyzers.
The bottom line on Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. (JKHY)
Jack Henry is a sticky, cash-rich bank-software franchise growing ~7% a year with a record 58 core wins in fiscal 2026; the debate is whether ~22x forward earnings pays for that steadiness.
More on Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. (JKHY)
Whether JKHY is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, what would have to go right, and the risks in is JKHY a buy or a sell?, and where the stock could go from here in the JKHY stock forecast.
For income investors, whether JKHY pays a dividend and how the payout looks is covered in does JKHY pay a dividend? And to weigh JKHY against a peer, read the full side-by-side comparisons: JKHY vs FISV and JKHY vs FIS.
Wondering how JKHY fits the portfolio you already own? Walnut is an AI investing app that connects your brokerage read-only and answers questions like that about your actual holdings: overlap, concentration, and how each position tracks the S&P 500. Compare the best AI portfolio analyzers or see the best AI investing apps in 2026.
Investing in Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. with AI
Connect the broker you already use and ask Walnut's AI how JKHY fits what you actually hold: whether you own it already through a fund, what it would do to your concentration, and how it has tracked the S&P 500. Read-only by default, and you approve anything before it reaches your broker.
FAQ
What does Jack Henry & Associates actually do?
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Jack Henry provides the technology that runs community banks and credit unions. Its core systems keep the official ledger of every deposit, loan and transaction; its Banno platform powers the mobile and online banking apps customers see; and its payments business processes cards, bill pay, ACH and real-time payments. It also sells fraud, risk and lending tools. Roughly 7,400 financial institutions use at least one product. Most of the work is delivered as a service from Jack Henry's data centers or public cloud, and it is billed by account or transaction under multi-year contracts. That model makes revenue highly recurring and predictable, since banks rarely switch core providers more than once a decade, and switching can take a year or two.
How do you invest in JKHY stock?
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Jack Henry's common shares trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker JKHY, so they are available at nearly every US brokerage, and most support fractional shares, which matters with the stock around ~$162 in October 2026. The company is also a member of the S&P 500, so investors in S&P 500 index funds, and in many financial technology and dividend-growth ETFs, already hold a small amount. Owning it directly gives more concentrated exposure to a single bank-software franchise. Whatever the route, it helps to look at how much of a portfolio already sits in financials and software before adding more, since Jack Henry is sensitive to the health of community banks. Walnut is not an investment adviser, and this is a description, not a recommendation.
How did Jack Henry do in fiscal 2026?
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Fiscal 2026, ended June 30, 2026, was a record year. GAAP revenue grew ~7.1% to ~$2.54 billion, adjusted revenue grew ~7.3% to ~$2.50 billion, and GAAP diluted EPS rose ~12% to ~$6.98. GAAP operating margin improved to ~25.0% from ~23.9%, and free cash flow climbed to ~$539 million. The company signed a record 58 competitive core wins. The fourth quarter was weaker than the year: revenue grew ~4.7% on a GAAP basis and operating income fell ~12%, as headcount-driven personnel costs, higher R&D and normalizing medical costs outpaced revenue, and one-time deconversion fees dropped to ~$9 million from ~$21 million a year earlier. That softer finish, plus slower guidance, weighed on the shares.
What is Jack Henry's fiscal 2027 guidance?
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For the year ending June 30, 2027, Jack Henry guided to GAAP revenue of ~$2.684 billion to ~$2.709 billion and adjusted revenue of ~$2.659 billion to ~$2.684 billion, implying roughly 6.3% to 7.3% adjusted growth. GAAP operating margin is expected at ~24.5% to ~24.7% and adjusted margin at ~24.1% to ~24.3%, a modest 20 to 40 basis point improvement. GAAP EPS is guided to ~$7.33 to ~$7.38. The outlook assumes no acquisitions and only ~$23 million of deconversion revenue. Management warned that first-quarter growth would land modestly below the full-year range, partly because its annual client conference moves into the second quarter. The fiscal first-quarter report is expected around November 3, 2026.
Does Jack Henry pay a dividend?
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Yes. Jack Henry pays a quarterly dividend, currently ~$0.61 per share, or ~$2.44 a year, which works out to a yield of ~1.5% at the October 2026 price. It has raised the dividend every year for more than three decades, and the payout uses only about a third of earnings, so it is well covered. In fiscal 2026 the company paid ~$170 million in dividends while also spending ~$448 million on share repurchases, more than twice as much. That mix means buybacks, which shrink the share count and lift per-share earnings, are the larger part of its capital return. The yield is modest compared with banks or utilities; the appeal is steady growth in the payment rather than a high starting income.
Why did JKHY stock fall in 2026?
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Several things combined. Early in 2026, investors sold software and financial technology stocks broadly on fears that AI tools would let competitors and clients build software more cheaply and pressure pricing. Jack Henry's growth of ~7% also looked modest beside companies with strong AI-driven narratives. After its fiscal second-quarter report, management guided to slower second-half growth and the stock dropped ~7% in a day, and the shares fell to a 52-week low near ~$121. Fiscal 2027 guidance, which came in below some expectations, led RBC, DA Davidson and others to trim price targets. Management argues the AI worry is overstated because it does not sell per-seat licenses. By October 23, 2026 the stock had recovered to ~$162.55, still well below its ~$193 high.
Who are Jack Henry's main competitors?
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In core processing, the main rivals are Fiserv and FIS, the two largest US providers, which together serve a majority of banks; Jack Henry has been winning clients from both. For credit unions, Corelation's KeyStone competes with Jack Henry's Symitar. In digital banking, Q2 Holdings and Alkami Technology compete against the Banno platform and often sit on top of a rival core. International and cloud-native vendors such as Temenos, Finastra and Thought Machine target larger institutions and shape expectations for modern, modular systems. Jack Henry's edge is its focus on community institutions, its service reputation, and its ability to sell core, digital and payments together; its disadvantage is smaller scale and less presence among the largest banks.
Walnut is informational, not investment advice. Financial figures on this page are approximations; always verify current numbers with Jack Henry & Associates, Inc.'s investor relations page or your broker before making investment decisions.