J.Jill, Inc. (NYSE:JILL) Stock Has Consensus Price Target of $24.50 According to Brokerages

Shares of J.Jill, Inc. (NYSE:JILL) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $24.50.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on JILL. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of J.Jill from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Telsey Advisory Group lifted their price objective on J.Jill from $18.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of J.Jill from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 12th. BTIG Research increased their price target on shares of J.Jill from $18.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 target price (up from $16.00) on shares of J.Jill in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Mark Webb sold 25,000 shares of J.Jill stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.28, for a total value of $582,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 121,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,835,341.04. The trade was a 17.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Elliot Staples sold 13,287 shares of J.Jill stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.20, for a total value of $321,545.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 60,270 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,458,534. This trade represents a 18.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 68,287 shares of company stock valued at $1,529,280 over the last ninety days. 4.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of J.Jill

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in J.Jill by 12.7% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 31,129 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $357,000 after acquiring an additional 3,499 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of J.Jill by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 279,496 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $3,208,000 after purchasing an additional 8,172 shares during the period. 1492 Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in J.Jill during the first quarter valued at approximately $258,000. Finally, Fund 1 Investments LLC boosted its position in J.Jill by 96.8% during the 2nd quarter. Fund 1 Investments LLC now owns 1,328,949 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $21,090,000 after purchasing an additional 653,645 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.71% of the company’s stock.

J.Jill Trading Down 1.4%

JILL opened at $24.18 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $22.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $17.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $359.31 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.51 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.86. J.Jill has a 1-year low of $10.40 and a 1-year high of $25.14.

J.Jill (NYSE:JILL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, September 9th. The specialty retailer reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.67. The company had revenue of $154.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $151.26 million. J.Jill had a return on equity of 28.51% and a net margin of 4.62%. Analysts expect that J.Jill will post 1.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

J.Jill Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. J.Jill’s dividend payout ratio is 20.11%.

About J.Jill

J.Jill, Inc is a specialty retailer focused on women’s apparel, footwear and accessories. The company designs and sells casual, comfortable and versatile clothing intended primarily for women in their 40s and beyond, with product offerings that include tops, sweaters, dresses, pants, jackets and seasonal collections.

J.Jill serves customers through a combination of retail stores and direct-to-consumer channels, including its e-commerce website and catalogs. Its merchandise is marketed under the J.Jill brand and is designed to support a coordinated wardrobe, with an emphasis on fit, ease and everyday wear.

Founded in 1959, the company operates primarily in the United States.