Wall Street Zen Upgrades J.Jill (NYSE:JILL) to “Buy”

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of J.Jill (NYSE:JILL) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Friday.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on JILL. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of J.Jill in a report on Thursday, September 4th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on J.Jill from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 4th. BTIG Research set a $26.00 price objective on J.Jill in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of J.Jill in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $17.00 price objective on shares of J.Jill in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.00.

J.Jill Price Performance

J.Jill stock opened at $16.31 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $16.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $16.32. J.Jill has a 1 year low of $13.36 and a 1 year high of $30.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $248.35 million, a P/E ratio of 6.82 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 1.11.

J.Jill (NYSE:JILL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 3rd. The specialty retailer reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $153.99 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $148.02 million. J.Jill had a return on equity of 40.48% and a net margin of 6.12%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that J.Jill will post 3.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

J.Jill Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 17th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 17th. J.Jill’s payout ratio is currently 13.39%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of JILL. Royce & Associates LP increased its position in shares of J.Jill by 33.3% during the 1st quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 768,127 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $15,002,000 after purchasing an additional 192,096 shares during the last quarter. Fund 1 Investments LLC grew its position in shares of J.Jill by 22.8% during the second quarter. Fund 1 Investments LLC now owns 936,248 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $13,707,000 after buying an additional 173,785 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in shares of J.Jill by 931.8% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 147,892 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,165,000 after buying an additional 133,558 shares in the last quarter. Paradigm Capital Management Inc. NY grew its position in shares of J.Jill by 13.5% during the second quarter. Paradigm Capital Management Inc. NY now owns 1,057,300 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $15,479,000 after buying an additional 125,838 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC acquired a new position in shares of J.Jill during the first quarter worth about $1,313,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.71% of the company’s stock.

About J.Jill

J.Jill, Inc operates as an omnichannel retailer for women's apparel under the J.Jill brand in the United States. It offers apparel, footwear, and accessories, including scarves and jewelry. The company markets its products through retail stores, website, and catalogs. J.Jill, Inc was founded in 1959 and is headquartered in Quincy, Massachusetts.