Tower Research Capital LLC TRC Acquires 44,523 Shares of The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TJX)

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TJX - Free Report) by 170.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 70,616 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer's stock after acquiring an additional 44,523 shares during the quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC's holdings in TJX Companies were worth $8,531,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 578,948 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of TJX Companies by 1.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 464,995 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 626,739 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. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in 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 worth $1,057,452,000 after acquiring an additional 363,879 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.09% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on TJX. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $145.00 target price on shares of TJX Companies in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Citigroup raised TJX Companies from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $128.00 to $140.00 in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of TJX Companies from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays increased their price target on shares of TJX Companies from $136.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on TJX Companies from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, TJX Companies presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $135.76.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other TJX Companies news, Director Alan M. Bennett sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.53, for a total value of $988,240.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Ernie Herrman sold 23,428 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 484,189 shares of the company's stock, valued at $59,569,772.67. The trade was a 4.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

TJX Companies Price Performance

TJX Companies stock traded up $1.14 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $126.64. The company had a trading volume of 1,906,891 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,370,737. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $121.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $121.21. The TJX Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $93.39 and a fifty-two week high of $131.30. The company has a market cap of $141.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

TJX Companies (NYSE:TJX - Get Free Report) last released its 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 net margin of 8.63% and a return on equity of 61.82%. The business had revenue of $16.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.24 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that The TJX Companies, Inc. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

TJX Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.425 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This is a boost from TJX Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.34%. TJX Companies's payout ratio is 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.