Carson Advisory Inc. Buys New Shares in The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TJX)

Carson Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TJX) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 2,137 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $200,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in TJX. FMR LLC increased its stake in TJX Companies by 13.1% in the third 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 acquiring an additional 6,036,764 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its stake in shares of TJX Companies by 350.9% during the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,078,244 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock valued at $184,714,000 after buying an additional 1,617,367 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of TJX Companies by 225.6% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,137,256 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock valued at $189,959,000 after buying an additional 1,480,837 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of TJX Companies by 93.2% during the third quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,949,415 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock valued at $262,144,000 after buying an additional 1,423,004 shares during the last quarter. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of TJX Companies during the third quarter valued at about $115,982,000. Institutional investors own 91.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at TJX Companies

In other TJX Companies news, EVP Louise Greenlees sold 2,694 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $4,968,480.59. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, EVP Louise Greenlees sold 2,694 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $4,968,480.59. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ernie Herrman sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 515,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,053,982.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

TJX Companies Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of TJX traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $95.11. The company had a trading volume of 5,085,017 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,082,808. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 1.21. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $97.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $94.02. The TJX Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $75.65 and a 52 week high of $102.84. The company has a market capitalization of $107.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.87.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.20 billion. TJX Companies had a return on equity of 64.18% and a net margin of 8.25%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.89 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The TJX Companies, Inc. will post 4.07 EPS for the current year.

TJX Companies announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 28th that allows the company to repurchase $2.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the apparel and home fashions retailer to buy up to 2.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

TJX Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.375 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This is a positive change from TJX Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. TJX Companies’s payout ratio is currently 34.46%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on TJX shares. 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 note on Thursday, February 29th. UBS Group raised TJX Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $104.00 to $132.00 in a research note on Thursday. 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 note on Thursday, April 25th. Redburn Atlantic cut TJX Companies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $100.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of TJX Companies in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $104.29.

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.