Motley Fool Asset Management LLC Acquires New Position in The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TJX)

Motley Fool Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TJX) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 52,459 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $6,338,000.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TJX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $145.00 price objective on shares of TJX Companies in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays increased their price target on TJX Companies from $136.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on TJX Companies from $138.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on TJX Companies from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of TJX Companies from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, TJX Companies has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $135.06.

TJX Companies Price Performance

NYSE:TJX opened at $124.99 on Thursday. The TJX Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $92.35 and a 52-week high of $128.00. The company has a market cap of $140.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.96. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $121.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $120.31.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $16.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.24 billion. TJX Companies had a return on equity of 61.82% and a net margin of 8.63%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The TJX Companies, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

TJX Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Stockholders 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 1.36%. This is a boost from TJX Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. TJX Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Ernie Herrman sold 23,428 shares of TJX Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.03, for a total transaction of $2,882,346.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 484,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,569,772.67. The trade was a 4.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Alan M. Bennett sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.53, for a total value of $988,240.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

TJX Companies Company 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.