Little House Capital LLC Lowers Position in The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TJX)

Little House Capital LLC lessened its stake in The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TJX) by 12.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,914 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock after selling 1,283 shares during the quarter. Little House Capital LLC’s holdings in TJX Companies were worth $836,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in TJX Companies by 0.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 95,135,688 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock worth $8,455,660,000 after purchasing an additional 392,783 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in TJX Companies by 13.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 52,008,484 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock worth $4,622,514,000 after purchasing an additional 6,036,764 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in TJX Companies by 1.5% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 24,752,978 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock worth $2,200,045,000 after purchasing an additional 371,163 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in TJX Companies by 2.3% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 13,734,141 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock worth $1,220,690,000 after purchasing an additional 313,530 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in TJX Companies by 0.9% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 9,054,237 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock worth $804,741,000 after purchasing an additional 83,643 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on TJX shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of TJX Companies from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of TJX Companies from $95.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of TJX Companies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of TJX Companies in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of TJX Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $100.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $102.65.

TJX Companies Price Performance

TJX Companies stock traded down $0.06 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $96.36. The company had a trading volume of 3,748,411 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,860,047. The TJX Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $75.65 and a 12-month high of $102.84. The company has a market capitalization of $109.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.86. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $97.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $93.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.64.

TJX Companies (NYSE:TJX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The apparel and home fashions retailer reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.20 billion. TJX Companies had a net margin of 8.25% and a return on equity of 64.18%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.89 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The TJX Companies, Inc. will post 4.07 EPS for the current year.

TJX Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a $0.375 dividend. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This is an increase from TJX Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. TJX Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.46%.

TJX Companies announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the apparel and home fashions retailer to reacquire up to 2.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at TJX Companies

In other TJX Companies news, EVP Louise Greenlees sold 2,694 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.83, for a total value of $266,248.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 50,273 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,968,480.59. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other TJX Companies news, EVP Louise Greenlees sold 2,694 shares of TJX Companies stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.83, for a total value of $266,248.02. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 50,273 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,968,480.59. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ernie Herrman sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.98, for a total transaction of $1,979,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 515,801 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,053,982.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About TJX Companies

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.