Royal Bank of Canada Raises Holdings in The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TJX)

Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in shares of The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TJX) by 12.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 12,300,919 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,403,561 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned approximately 1.09% of TJX Companies worth $1,486,074,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of TJX Companies by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 108,135 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock worth $13,064,000 after buying an additional 11,513 shares during the period. Raiffeisen Bank International AG acquired a new stake in shares of TJX Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $5,789,000. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of TJX Companies by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 182,619 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock worth $22,062,000 after buying an additional 20,260 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of TJX Companies by 32.0% during the fourth quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 138,849 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock worth $16,774,000 after buying an additional 33,658 shares during the period. Finally, Pathstone Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of TJX Companies by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 736,616 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock worth $88,992,000 after buying an additional 67,853 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.09% of the company’s stock.

TJX Companies Stock Performance

Shares of TJX stock opened at $132.93 on Friday. 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 one year low of $97.53 and a one year high of $133.19. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $123.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $122.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $148.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.28, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.94.

TJX Companies (NYSE:TJX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The apparel and home fashions retailer reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $16.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.24 billion. TJX Companies had a net margin of 8.63% and a return on equity of 61.82%. Equities analysts anticipate that The TJX Companies, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TJX Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.425 dividend. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This is a boost from TJX Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. TJX Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.91%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on TJX. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of TJX Companies from $136.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $145.00 target price on shares of TJX Companies in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on TJX Companies from $136.00 to $133.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of TJX Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Citigroup raised TJX Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $128.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, TJX Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $137.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Ernie Herrman sold 23,428 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 484,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,569,772.67. This represents a 4.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Alan M. Bennett sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.53, for a total transaction of $988,240.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.