First Trust Advisors LP Cuts Stake in The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TJX)

First Trust Advisors LP reduced its position in shares of The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TJX) by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,228,003 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock after selling 102,003 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 0.20% of TJX Companies worth $269,165,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TJX. Bogart Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of TJX Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of TJX Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of TJX Companies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in TJX Companies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC acquired a new position in TJX Companies during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on TJX shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on TJX Companies from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of TJX Companies from $133.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. StockNews.com lowered shares of TJX Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on TJX Companies from $138.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on TJX Companies from $136.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $135.76.

TJX Companies Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:TJX opened at $127.51 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $142.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.00, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a current ratio of 1.19. The TJX Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $93.32 and a 1 year high of $131.30. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $121.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $121.04.

TJX Companies (NYSE:TJX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The apparel and home fashions retailer reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.07. TJX Companies had a net margin of 8.63% and a return on equity of 61.82%. The business had revenue of $16.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.24 billion. Equities analysts forecast that The TJX Companies, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

TJX Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.425 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This is a positive change from TJX Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. TJX Companies’s payout ratio is 39.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling at TJX Companies

In related news, Director Alan M. Bennett sold 8,000 shares of TJX Companies stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.53, for a total transaction of $988,240.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ernie Herrman sold 23,428 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.03, for a total value of $2,882,346.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 484,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,569,772.67. This represents a 4.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

TJX Companies Profile

The TJX Companies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an off-price apparel and home fashions retailer in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia. It operates through four segments: Marmaxx, HomeGoods, TJX Canada, and TJX International. The company sells family apparel, including footwear and accessories; home fashions, such as home basics, furniture, rugs, lighting products, giftware, soft home products, decorative accessories, tabletop, and cookware, as well as expanded pet, and gourmet food departments; jewelry and accessories; and other merchandise.