Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Sells 34,483 Shares of The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TJX)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky cut its stake in The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TJX) by 29.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 83,587 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock after selling 34,483 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in TJX Companies were worth $10,098,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in TJX Companies by 0.6% in the fourth 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 buying an additional 578,948 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of TJX Companies by 1.9% in the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 464,995 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of TJX Companies by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,647,792 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock valued at $1,769,600,000 after purchasing an additional 626,739 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of TJX Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,670,565,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in TJX Companies by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,753,021 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock worth $1,057,452,000 after purchasing an additional 363,879 shares during the period. 91.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Ernie Herrman sold 23,428 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.03, for a total value of $2,882,346.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 484,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,569,772.67. This represents a 4.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Alan M. Bennett sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.53, for a total value of $988,240.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

TJX Companies Stock Down 2.8 %

TJX opened at $124.03 on Tuesday. The TJX Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $93.32 and a 1-year high of $131.30. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $121.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $121.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company has a market capitalization of $138.55 billion, a PE ratio of 29.18, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.86.

TJX Companies (NYSE:TJX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The apparel and home fashions retailer reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.07. TJX Companies had a return on equity of 61.82% and a net margin of 8.63%. The business had revenue of $16.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.24 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The TJX Companies, Inc. will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

TJX Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid 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 dividend yield of 1.37%. TJX Companies’s payout ratio is 39.91%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TJX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price on shares of TJX Companies from $136.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Citigroup upgraded TJX Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $128.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $145.00 target price on shares of TJX Companies in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on TJX Companies from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of TJX Companies from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $135.76.

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.