Advisors Capital Management LLC Sells 19,796 Shares of The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TJX)

Advisors Capital Management LLC lowered its position in The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TJX) by 4.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 444,327 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock after selling 19,796 shares during the period. TJX Companies accounts for about 0.8% of Advisors Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Advisors Capital Management LLC’s holdings in TJX Companies were worth $53,679,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of TJX Companies by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 99,314,635 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock worth $11,998,201,000 after purchasing an additional 578,948 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in TJX Companies by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,322,579 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock worth $2,930,965,000 after buying an additional 464,995 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of TJX Companies in the fourth quarter valued at $1,670,565,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of TJX Companies by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,753,021 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock valued at $1,057,452,000 after buying an additional 363,879 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of TJX Companies by 9.9% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,271,499 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock worth $837,951,000 after acquiring an additional 657,529 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on TJX shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on TJX Companies from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group lifted their target price on TJX Companies from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Citigroup raised TJX Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $128.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of TJX Companies from $136.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of TJX Companies from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $135.76.

Insider Transactions at TJX Companies

In other news, Director Alan M. Bennett sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.53, for a total value of $988,240.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ernie Herrman sold 23,428 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 484,189 shares in the company, valued at $59,569,772.67. This represents a 4.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

TJX Companies Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of TJX stock opened at $128.22 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market cap of $143.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.17, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a 50 day moving average of $121.55 and a 200-day moving average of $120.66. The TJX Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $92.35 and a 12-month high of $129.02.

TJX Companies (NYSE:TJX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The apparel and home fashions retailer reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The TJX Companies, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

TJX Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.425 per share. 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. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. TJX Companies’s payout ratio is presently 39.91%.

TJX Companies 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.