Eagle Ridge Investment Management Sells 1,546 Shares of The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TJX)

Eagle Ridge Investment Management cut its stake in shares of The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TJX) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 117,397 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock after selling 1,546 shares during the quarter. Eagle Ridge Investment Management’s holdings in TJX Companies were worth $11,013,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in TJX Companies by 0.4% in the 3rd 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 buying an additional 392,783 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of TJX Companies by 13.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 52,008,484 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock valued at $4,622,514,000 after purchasing an additional 6,036,764 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of TJX Companies by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 24,752,978 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock valued at $2,200,045,000 after purchasing an additional 371,163 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of TJX Companies by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 13,734,141 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock valued at $1,220,690,000 after purchasing an additional 313,530 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of TJX Companies by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 9,054,237 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock valued at $804,741,000 after purchasing an additional 83,643 shares during the period. 91.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of TJX Companies in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. UBS Group raised their price objective on TJX Companies from $95.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on TJX Companies from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Redburn Atlantic lowered TJX Companies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $100.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised TJX Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, TJX Companies has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $102.65.

Insider Activity

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

TJX Companies Stock Performance

NYSE TJX traded down $1.09 on Monday, hitting $95.27. 2,173,585 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,022,542. The company has a market capitalization of $107.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $97.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $93.94. The TJX Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $75.65 and a 52-week high of $102.84.

TJX Companies (NYSE:TJX) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. TJX Companies had a return on equity of 64.18% and a net margin of 8.25%. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.89 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that The TJX Companies, Inc. will post 4.07 earnings per share for the current year.

TJX Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a $0.375 dividend. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.57%. This is an increase from TJX Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. TJX Companies’s payout ratio is presently 34.46%.

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

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.