LPL Financial LLC Increases Stock Position in Dillard's, Inc. (NYSE:DDS)

Key Points

• LPL Financial LLC has increased its stake in Dillard's, Inc. to about $5.34 million, owning 14,916 shares after a 4% increase during the first quarter.
• Several institutional investors have significantly increased their holdings in Dillard's, with some raising their stakes by over 2,900% in the same period, contributing to institutional ownership of 67.15% of the company.
• Dillard's reported earnings of $10.39 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations, with revenue for the quarter reaching $1.54 billion, exceeding projections of $1.53 billion.

LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Dillard's, Inc. (NYSE:DDS - Free Report) by 4.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,916 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 578 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC owned about 0.09% of Dillard's worth $5,342,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DDS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Dillard's by 37.6% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 10,256 shares of the company's stock worth $4,428,000 after buying an additional 2,801 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its holdings in shares of Dillard's by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 783 shares of the company's stock worth $338,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Dillard's during the fourth quarter worth about $556,000. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its holdings in shares of Dillard's by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 3,042 shares of the company's stock worth $1,313,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Dillard's by 1,707.7% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 2,115 shares of the company's stock worth $913,000 after buying an additional 1,998 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.15% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on DDS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Dillard's from $368.00 to $458.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Telsey Advisory Group raised their price objective on shares of Dillard's from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Dillard's from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Dillard's from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday.

Dillard's Price Performance

Shares of Dillard's stock traded up $15.50 during trading on Friday, hitting $514.23. 172,676 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 143,150. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. Dillard's, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $282.24 and a fifty-two week high of $533.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.21 and a beta of 1.06. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $445.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $408.72.

Dillard's (NYSE:DDS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 14th. The company reported $4.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $0.87. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.50 billion. Dillard's had a net margin of 8.93% and a return on equity of 30.52%. Dillard's's revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $11.09 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Dillard's, Inc. will post 33.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dillard's Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 30th. Dillard's's payout ratio is presently 2.76%.

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.