Dillard's (NYSE:DDS) Director J Watts Jr Sells 750 Shares

Key Points

• Director J Watts Jr. of Dillard's sold 750 shares at an average price of $594.60, resulting in a total transaction value of $445,950 and a 6.82% decrease in ownership.
• Dillard's recently announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.30 per share, yielding 0.2%, which is up from the previous $0.25 dividend.
• Despite a recent drop in share price, Dillard's reported a 4.66 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations of $3.79.

Dillard's, Inc. (NYSE:DDS - Get Free Report) Director J Watts, Jr. sold 750 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $594.60, for a total value of $445,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 10,250 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,094,650. This trade represents a 6.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Dillard's Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of DDS stock traded down $3.21 on Friday, reaching $592.87. The company had a trading volume of 65,250 shares, compared to its average volume of 138,947. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The stock has a market cap of $9.27 billion, a PE ratio of 16.35 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a 50-day moving average of $568.63 and a 200-day moving average of $456.94. Dillard's, Inc. has a 12 month low of $282.24 and a 12 month high of $637.73.

Dillard's (NYSE:DDS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 14th. The company reported $4.66 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.87. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.50 billion. Dillard's had a return on equity of 30.55% and a net margin of 8.87%.Dillard's's revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $11.09 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Dillard's, Inc. will post 33.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Dillard's Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. This is a positive change from Dillard's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Dillard's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 3.31%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on DDS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Dillard's from $368.00 to $458.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Dillard's in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Telsey Advisory Group increased their target price on Dillard's from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Zacks Research cut Dillard's from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Dillard's from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $394.33.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Dillard's

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Dillard's by 26,618.5% in the 1st quarter. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC now owns 186,228 shares of the company's stock valued at $66,694,000 after buying an additional 185,531 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its holdings in shares of Dillard's by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 178,547 shares of the company's stock valued at $74,602,000 after buying an additional 883 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Dillard's by 14.8% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 91,015 shares of the company's stock valued at $38,029,000 after buying an additional 11,733 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Dillard's by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 77,691 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,823,000 after buying an additional 641 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its holdings in shares of Dillard's by 756.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 70,880 shares of the company's stock valued at $43,554,000 after buying an additional 62,608 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.15% of the company's stock.

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.

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