Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Decreases Stake in The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TJX)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD decreased its holdings in The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TJX - Free Report) by 7.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,134,010 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer's stock after selling 1,023,656 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 1.08% of TJX Companies worth $1,465,911,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 578,948 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake 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 valued at $2,930,965,000 after purchasing an additional 464,995 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in TJX Companies by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,647,792 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer's stock worth $1,769,600,000 after buying an additional 626,739 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in TJX Companies during the fourth quarter valued at $1,670,565,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 363,879 shares during the period. 91.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TJX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group restated an "outperform" rating and set a $145.00 target price on shares of TJX Companies in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of TJX Companies from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Citigroup raised TJX Companies from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $128.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. UBS Group increased their price objective on TJX Companies from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of TJX Companies from $133.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, TJX Companies has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $137.38.

Insider Activity

In other TJX Companies news, CEO Ernie Herrman sold 23,428 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.03, for a total value of $2,882,346.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 484,189 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $59,569,772.67. The trade was a 4.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Alan M. Bennett sold 8,000 shares of TJX Companies stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were 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. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

TJX Companies Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE TJX traded down $0.06 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $127.07. 818,281 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,348,382. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $122.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $121.60. The TJX Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $93.39 and a twelve month high of $131.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.50. The company has a market cap of $141.95 billion, a PE ratio of 29.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.86.

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

TJX Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.425 per share. This is an increase from TJX Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. TJX Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.91%.

TJX Companies Company 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.