New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC Buys 185,531 Shares of Dillard's, Inc. $DDS

Key Points

• New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC significantly increased its stake in Dillard's, Inc. by 26,618.5%, holding approximately $66.69 million worth of shares after purchasing an additional 185,531 shares in the first quarter.
• Dillard's recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.25 to $0.30, with an annualized yield of 0.2%, set to be paid on November 3rd.
• Analysts have mixed ratings on Dillard's stock, with price targets ranging from $175.00 to $550.00, and an overall average rating of "Sell".

New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC raised its position in shares of Dillard's, Inc. (NYSE:DDS - Free Report) by 26,618.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 186,228 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 185,531 shares during the quarter. Dillard's comprises approximately 0.3% of New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC owned 1.17% of Dillard's worth $66,694,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of DDS. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of Dillard's by 3,989.8% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 37,790 shares of the company's stock worth $16,315,000 after purchasing an additional 36,866 shares during the last quarter. Summit Street Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Dillard's in the 4th quarter worth about $9,155,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Dillard's by 84.1% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 46,416 shares of the company's stock worth $16,623,000 after purchasing an additional 21,199 shares during the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Dillard's by 218.3% in the 4th quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 26,569 shares of the company's stock worth $11,471,000 after purchasing an additional 18,221 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Dillard's in the 1st quarter worth about $6,250,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.15% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DDS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered Dillard's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Dillard's from $368.00 to $458.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Telsey Advisory Group lifted their price objective on Dillard's from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Dillard's from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, August 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Dillard's presently has a consensus rating of "Sell" and an average price target of $394.33.

Dillard's Stock Performance

NYSE DDS traded up $3.05 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $571.28. The company's stock had a trading volume of 59,860 shares, compared to its average volume of 143,043. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $492.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $415.17. The company has a market cap of $8.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.76 and a beta of 0.99. Dillard's, Inc. has a 12 month low of $282.24 and a 12 month high of $580.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.41 and a quick ratio of 1.13.

Dillard's (NYSE:DDS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 14th. The company reported $4.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.87. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. Dillard's had a return on equity of 30.74% and a net margin of 8.87%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $11.09 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Dillard's, Inc. will post 33.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dillard's Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. This is an increase from Dillard's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Dillard's's dividend 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.