Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Purchases 115,304 Shares of The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TJX)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TJX) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,534,165 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 115,304 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in TJX Companies were worth $612,970,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in TJX Companies by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,016 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock worth $624,000 after buying an additional 456 shares during the last quarter. NBT Bank N A NY boosted its stake in shares of TJX Companies by 3.0% during the third quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 69,575 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock valued at $6,184,000 after purchasing an additional 2,036 shares during the period. Advisor Partners II LLC grew its holdings in shares of TJX Companies by 15.1% in the third quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 69,682 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock worth $6,193,000 after purchasing an additional 9,141 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of TJX Companies by 2.8% in the third quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 59,096 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock worth $5,252,000 after buying an additional 1,623 shares during the period. Finally, Catalyst Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in TJX Companies by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 4,911 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock valued at $436,000 after buying an additional 259 shares during the period. 91.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of TJX Companies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $100.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of TJX Companies in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded TJX Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $100.00 to $110.00 in a report on Thursday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of TJX Companies from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of TJX Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $104.00 to $132.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, TJX Companies currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $104.29.

TJX Companies Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE TJX traded up $0.45 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $97.90. The stock had a trading volume of 4,749,316 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,091,767. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $96.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $94.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.64. The TJX Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $75.65 and a 1 year high of $102.84. The stock has a market cap of $110.92 billion, a PE ratio of 25.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.87.

TJX Companies (NYSE:TJX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The apparel and home fashions retailer reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.20 billion. TJX Companies had a return on equity of 64.18% and a net margin of 8.25%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.89 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that The TJX Companies, Inc. will post 4.07 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 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.375 per share. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.53%. This is a boost from TJX Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. TJX Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.46%.

TJX Companies announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 28th that allows the company to buyback $2.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the apparel and home fashions retailer to purchase up to 2.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at TJX Companies

In other TJX Companies news, CEO Ernie Herrman sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.98, for a total value of $1,979,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 515,801 shares in the company, valued at $51,053,982.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Ernie Herrman sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.98, for a total value of $1,979,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 515,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,053,982.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Louise Greenlees sold 2,694 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.83, for a total value of $266,248.02. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 50,273 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,968,480.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.