Sapient Capital LLC Buys Shares of 122,989 The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TJX)

Sapient Capital LLC bought a new stake in The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TJX) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 122,989 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $11,538,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. raised its position in shares of TJX Companies by 35.5% during the third quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. now owns 73,466 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock worth $6,530,000 after purchasing an additional 19,236 shares during the period. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of TJX Companies by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 603,482 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock worth $56,613,000 after purchasing an additional 21,767 shares during the period. Savoir Faire Capital Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of TJX Companies during the third quarter worth about $3,197,000. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of TJX Companies by 42.9% during the fourth quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 19,108 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock worth $1,793,000 after purchasing an additional 5,737 shares during the period. Finally, Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank raised its position in shares of TJX Companies by 109.1% during the third quarter. Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank now owns 148,954 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock worth $13,239,000 after purchasing an additional 77,711 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TJX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group raised TJX Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $104.00 to $132.00 in a research report on Thursday. Redburn Atlantic downgraded TJX Companies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $100.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded TJX Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $100.00 to $110.00 in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of TJX Companies in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on TJX Companies from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $104.29.

TJX Companies Stock Performance

Shares of TJX traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $95.11. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,894,076 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,182,456. The TJX Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $75.65 and a 1-year high of $102.84. The stock has a market cap of $107.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.64, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.87. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $96.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $94.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

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

TJX Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.375 per share. This is a boost from TJX Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. TJX Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.46%.

TJX Companies declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the apparel and home fashions retailer to repurchase up to 2.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Louise Greenlees sold 2,694 shares of TJX Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.83, for a total transaction of $266,248.02. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 50,273 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,968,480.59. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Louise Greenlees sold 2,694 shares of TJX Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.83, for a total transaction of $266,248.02. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 50,273 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,968,480.59. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ernie Herrman sold 20,000 shares of TJX Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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.