Investors Purchase Large Volume of TJX Companies Call Options (NYSE:TJX)

The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TJX - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 22,354 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 116% compared to the typical daily volume of 10,339 call options.

TJX Companies Trading Down 2.1 %

TJX Companies stock traded down $2.51 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $118.06. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,742,276 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,199,483. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a current ratio of 1.19. The company has a 50 day moving average of $121.61 and a 200-day moving average of $120.22. TJX Companies has a one year low of $92.35 and a one year high of $128.00. The stock has a market cap of $132.72 billion, a PE ratio of 27.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.96.

TJX Companies (NYSE:TJX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The apparel and home fashions retailer reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $16.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.24 billion. TJX Companies had a net margin of 8.63% and a return on equity of 61.82%. On average, research analysts anticipate that TJX Companies will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

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Insider Activity at TJX Companies

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TJX Companies

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in TJX Companies by 0.6% during 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 during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of TJX Companies by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 47,556,435 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer's stock worth $5,589,783,000 after buying an additional 469,287 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 valued at $2,930,965,000 after buying an additional 464,995 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of TJX Companies by 4.5% in the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 626,739 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in TJX Companies by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 13,985,826 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer's stock worth $1,689,628,000 after acquiring an additional 1,845,225 shares in the last quarter. 91.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on TJX shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on TJX Companies from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of TJX Companies from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Barclays boosted their target price 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. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of TJX Companies from $133.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on TJX Companies from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, TJX Companies currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $135.06.

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.