Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC Raises Position in Dillard's, Inc. (NYSE:DDS)

Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Dillard's, Inc. (NYSE:DDS - Free Report) by 29.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 4,420 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,018 shares during the period. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC's holdings in Dillard's were worth $1,908,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of DDS. Versor Investments LP purchased a new stake in Dillard's during the 4th quarter worth approximately $519,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Dillard's during the fourth quarter worth $7,270,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Dillard's by 107.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 77,050 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,266,000 after buying an additional 39,858 shares during the last quarter. Grove Street Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Dillard's in the 4th quarter valued at $222,000. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its position in shares of Dillard's by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 211,561 shares of the company's stock valued at $91,339,000 after acquiring an additional 20,155 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.15% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on DDS. UBS Group lifted their price target on Dillard's from $200.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Dillard's in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Dillard's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Tom W. Bolin sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.45, for a total transaction of $130,035.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,167 shares of the company's stock, valued at $505,836.15. This represents a 20.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 33.80% of the company's stock.

Dillard's Stock Performance

Shares of Dillard's stock traded down $21.83 during trading on Monday, hitting $367.26. 229,192 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 124,450. Dillard's, Inc. has a 52-week low of $328.00 and a 52-week high of $510.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 2.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.45 and a beta of 0.88. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $463.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $414.73.

Dillard's (NYSE:DDS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The company reported $13.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $9.84 by $3.64. The business had revenue of $2.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.49 billion. Dillard's had a return on equity of 32.13% and a net margin of 9.55%. The company's revenue was down 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $15.44 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Dillard's, Inc. will post 33.25 EPS for the current year.

Dillard's Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.27%. Dillard's's payout ratio is 2.71%.

About Dillard's

Dillard's, Inc engages in the retail of fashion apparel, cosmetics, and home furnishings, and other consumer goods. It operates through the Retail Operations and Construction segments. The Retail Operations segment comprises sells cosmetics, ladies' apparel, ladies' accessories and lingerie, juniors' and children's apparel, men's apparel and accessories, shoes, and home and furniture products.